Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

42.

Vellem scire, immo melius nescierim, qua caecitate animi legerit Faustus, ubi vocavit Iacob filios suos et dixit: Congregamini, ut nuntiem vobis, quae occursura sunt vobis in novissimis diebus; congregamini et audite, filii Iacob; audite Israhel, patrem vestrum. p. 368,1 Hic certe nemo dubitat prophetantis personam esse dilucidatam. Audiamus ergo, quid dicat filio suo Iudae, de cuius tribu Christus venit, ex semine David secundum carnem, sicut apostolica doctrina testatur. Iuda inquit te laudent fratres tui; manus tuae super dorsa inimicorum tuorum; adorabunt te filii patris tui; catulus leonis Iuda, de germinatione filius meus; ascendisti recumbens; dormisti ut leo et ut catulus leonis; quis suscitabit eum? non deerit princeps ex Iuda et dux de femoribus eius, donec veniant quae reposita sunt ei; et ipse exspectatio gentium, alligans ad vineam pullum suum et cilicio pullum asinae, lavabit in vino stolam suam et in sanguine uvae amictum suum; fulgentes oculi eius a vino et dentes candidiores lacte. p. 368,15 Falsa sint ista, obscura sint ista, si non in Christo evidentissima luce claruerunt; si non eum laudant fratres eius apostoli et omnes coheredes eius, non suam gloriam quaerentes, sed ipsius; si non sunt manus eius super dorsa inimicorum eius; si non deprimuntur atque curvantur ad terram crescentibus populis christianis, quicumque illi adhuc adversantur; si non eum adoraverunt filii Iacob in reliquiis, quae per electionem gratiae salvae factae sunt; si non ipse catulus est leonis, quoniam nascendo parvulus factus est, propter hoc additum: de germinatione filius meus. Causa quippe reddita est, quare catulus, in cuius laude alibi scriptum est: Catulus leonis fortior iumentis, hoc est etiam parvulus fortior maioribus; p. 368,28 si non ascendit in cruce recumbens, cum inclinato capite reddidit spiritum; si non dormivit ut leo, quia et in ipsa morte non est victus, sed vicit, et ut catulus leonis, inde enim mortuus unde et natus; si non ille eum suscitavit a mortuis, quem nemo hominum vidit nec videre potest; eo enim quod dictum est: Quis suscitabit eum? , satis expressa est tamquam ignoti significatio; si defuit princeps ex Iuda et dux ex femoribus eius, donec venirent oportuno tempore, quae promissa, tamquam reposita fuerant. Sunt enim litterae certissimae historiae ipsorum quoque Iudaeorum, quibus ostenditur primum alienigenam Herodem regem fuisse in gente Iudaeorum, quo tempore natus Christus est. Ita non defuit rex de semine Iuda, donc venirent, quae reposita erant illi; p. 369,13 sed quia non solis Iudaeis fidelibus profuit, quod promissum est, vide, quid sequatur: Et ipse exspectatio gentium, ipse alligavit ad vineam pullum suum, id est populum suum, in cilicio praedicans et clamans: Agite paenitentiam; appropinquavit enim regnum caelorum. Populum autem gentium illi subditum cognoscimus pullo asinae comparatum, in quo etiam sedit ducens eum in Hierusalem, id est in visionem pacis, docens mansuetos vias suas; si non lavat in vino stolam suam; ipsa est enim gloriosa ecclesia, quam sibi exhibet non habentem maculam aut rugam, cui dicitur etiam per Esaiam: si fuerint peccata vestra sicut phoenicium, tamquam nivem dealbabo. Unde nisi de dimissis peccatis? In quo ergo vino nisi illo, de quo dicitur, quod pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum? Ipse est enim botrus ille, qui pependit in ligno. Propterea et hic vide, quid adiungat: Et in sanguine uvae amictum suum; p. 370,5 iam vero fulgere oculos eius a vino, illa in corpore eius membra cognoscunt, quibus donatum est sancta quadam ebrietate alienatae mentis ab infra labentibus temporalibus aeternam lucem sapientiae contueri. Unde quiddam paulo ante commemoravimus dicente Paulo: Sive enim mente excessimus, deo. Hi sunt fulgentes oculi a vino. Sed tamen quia sequitur: Sive temperantes sumus, vobis, nec parvuli relinquuntur adhuc lacte nutriendi, quia et hic sequitur: et dentes candidiores lacte.

Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

42.

I should like to know, or rather, it would be well not to know, with what blindness of mind Faustus reads the passage where Jacob calls his sons, and says, "Assemble, that I may tell you the things that are to happen in the last day. Assemble and hear, ye sons of Jacob; give ear to Israel, your father." Surely these are the words of a prophet. What, then, does he say of his son Judah, of whose tribe Christ came of the seed of David according to the flesh, as the apostle teaches? "Judah," he says, "thy brethren shall praise thee: thy hand shall be upon the backs of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; my son and offspring: bowing down, thou hast gone up: thou sleepest as a lion, and as a young lion, who will rouse him up? A prince shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, till those things come which have been laid up for him. He also is the desire of nations: binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt with sackcloth, he shall wash his garment in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: his eyes are bright with wine, and his teeth whiter than milk." ¹ There is no falsehood or obscurity in these words when we read them in the clear light of Christ. We see His brethren the apostles and all His joint-heirs praising Him, seeking, not their own glory, but His. We see His hands on the backs of His enemies, who are bent and bowed to the earth by the growth of the Christian communities in spite of their opposition. We see Him worshipped by the sons of Jacob, the remnant saved according to the election of grace. Christ, who was born as an infant, is the lion's whelp, as it is added, My son and offspring, to show why this whelp, in whose praise it is said, "The lion's whelp is stronger than the herd," ² is even in infancy stronger than its elders. We see Christ ascending the cross, and bowing down when He gave up His spirit. We see Him sleeping as a lion, because in death itself He was not the conquered, but the conqueror, and as a lion's whelp; for the reason of His birth and of His death was the same. And He is raised from the dead by Him whom no man hath seen or can see; for the words, "Who will raise Him up?" point to an unknown power. A prince did not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, till in due time those things came which had been laid up in the promise. For we learn from the authentic history of the Jews themselves, that Herod, under whom Christ was born, was their first foreign king. So the sceptre did not depart from the seed of Judah till the things laid up for him came. Then, as the promise is not only to the believing Jews, it is added: "He is the desire of the nations." Christ bound His foal--that is, His people--to the vine, when He preached in sackcloth, crying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The Gentiles made subject to Him are represented by the ass's colt, on which He also sat, leading it into Jerusalem, that is, the vision of peace teaching the meek His ways. We see Him washing His garments in wine; for He is one with the glorious Church, which He presents to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle; to whom also it is said by Isaiah: "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow." ³ How is this done but by the remission of sins? And the wine is none other than that of which it is said that it is "shed for many, for the remission of sins." Christ is the cluster that hung on the pole. So it is added, "and His clothes in the blood of the grape." Again, what is said of His eyes being bright with wine, is understood by those members of His body who are enabled, in holy aberration of mind from the current of earthly things, to gaze on the eternal light of wisdom. So Paul says in a passage quoted before: "If we be beside ourselves, it is to God." Those are the eyes bright with wine. But he adds: "If we be sober, it is for your sakes." The babes needing to be fed with milk are not forgotten, as is denoted by the words, "His teeth are whiter than milk."