Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

14.

As regards the deeds of the ancients, both those which seem sinful to foolish and ignorant people, when they are not so, and those which really are sinful, we have already explained why they have been written, and how this rather adds to than impairs the dignity of Scripture. So, too, about the curse on him who hangeth on a tree, and on him who raises not up seed in Israel, our reply has already been given in the proper place, when meeting Faustus' objections. ¹ And in reply to all objections whatsoever, whether we have already answered them separately, or whether they are contained in the remarks of Faustus which we are now considering, we appeal to our established principles, on which we maintain the authority of sacred Scripture. The principle is this, that all things written in the books of the Old Testament are to be received with approval and admiration, as most true and most profitable to eternal life; and that those precepts which are no longer observed outwardly are to be understood as having been most suitable in those times, and are to be viewed as having been shadows of things to come, of which we may now perceive the fulfillments. Accordingly, whoever in those times neglected the observance of these symbolical precepts was righteously condemned to suffer the punishment required by the divine statute, as any one would be now if he were impiously to profane the sacraments of the New Testament, which differ from the old observances only as this time differs from that. For as praise is due to the righteous men of old who refused not to die for the Old Testament sacraments, so it is due to the martyrs of the New Testament. And as a sick man should not find fault with the medical treatment, because one thing is prescribed to-day and another to-morrow, and what was at first required is afterwards forbidden, since the method of cure depends on this; so the human race, sick and sore as it is from Adam to the end of the world, as long as the corrupted body weighs down the mind, ² should not find fault with the divine prescriptions, if sometimes the same observances are enjoined, and sometimes an old observance is exchanged for one of a different kind; especially as there was a promise of a change in the appointments.

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

14.

Iam vero de antiquorum factis, et quae stultis atque ineruditis videntur peccata, dum non sunt, et quae vere peccata sunt, quam ob causam conscripta sunt servata magisque commendata scripturae ipsius veneratione, sufficienti iam sermone monstravimus; Necnon de maledicto eius, qui pendet in ligno, et eius, qui non suscitaverit semen in Israhel, iam primum suo loco respondimus, cum haec ante dilueremus obiecta. Et prorsus omnia, sive de quibus singillatim iam anterioribus huius operis partibus disseruimus, sive quae in isto, cui respondemus, sermone suo Faustus similia posuit, una firmissima veritatis ratione defendimus, quam de sanctarum scripturarum auctoritate percepimus. p. 773,18 Quaecumque scripta sunt in illis libris veteris testamenti, omnia verissime atque utilissime pro aeterna vita scripta esse laudamus, accipimus, approbamus. Sed quae in his mandata corporali operatione non observamus, et rectissime tunc mandata intellegimus et umbram futurorum esse didicimus et nunc iam impleri cognoscimus. Ac per hoc quisquis illa tunc etiam opera, quae ad significandum agi iubebantur, non observabat, poenas divinitus constitutas rectissimo iudicio persolvebat, sicut nunc si quis sacramenta novi testamenti pro temporis ratione distincta fuerit ausus sacrilega temeritate violare. Quemadmodum enim tunc iusti viri, qui pro illis sacramentis nec mortem recusaverunt, iure laudantur, ita nunc pro istis martyres sancti. p. 774,3 Et sicut aeger non debet reprehendere medicinalem doctrinam, si aliud illi hodie praeceperit, aliud cras, prohibens etiam quod ante praeceperat – sic enim se habebat sanandi eius corporis ratio – ita genus humanum, ab Adam usque in finem saeculi, quamdiu corpus quod corrumpitur aggravat animam, aegrum atque saucium, non debet divinam reprehendere medicinam, si in quibusdam hoc idem, in quibusdam vero aliud prius, aliud posterius observandum esse praecepit, praesertim quia se aliud praecepturam esse promisit.