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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

12.

Porro si hoc gentilis ille moveretur, cur etiam ipsi, qui appellantur christiani, in multas haereses variasque discedunt, neque hoc a prophetis Hebraeis praetermissum esse doceremus. Tamquam enim esset consequens, ut Iudaeis in sua caecitate demonstratis hoc illi veniret in mentem, quod etiam multi sub nomine christiano ab ipsa christiana societate deviarent, ipse Hieremias velut catechizandi ordinem nobis insinuans continuo subiecit: Clamavit perdix, congregavit, quae non peperit, faciens divitias suas non cum iudicio. Perdix enim, nimis contentiosum animal, notum est, quanta aviditate ipsius contentionis currat in laqueum. Non enim disputare amant haeretici, sed quoquo modo superare impudentissima pervicacia, ut congregent, sicut hic dixit, quae non pepererunt. p. 392,2 Christianos enim, quos maxime Christi nomine seducunt, iam per ipsius Christi evangelium natos inveniunt et faciunt illos divitias suas, non sane cum iudicio, sed cum temeritate inconsiderata. Non enim intellegunt ibi esse veram et salubrem et quodam modo germanam atque radicalem christianam societatem, unde istos separaverunt, quos ad suas divitias congregarunt. Et quia de talibus dicit apostolus: Sicut enim Iamnes et Mambres restiterunt Moysi, sic et isti resistunt veritati, homines mente corrupti, reprobi circa fidem; sed ultra non proficient; dementia enim eorum manifesta erit omnibus, sicut et illorum fuit, sequitur et hic propheta et dicit de perdice, qui congregavit, quae non peperit: In dimidio dierum eius derelinquent eum et in novissimis suis erit insipiens, id est qui primo tamquam per pollicitationem et ostentationem excellentis sapientiae seducebat, erit insipiens, id est apparebit insipiens. p. 392,18 Eis quippe, quibus primo sapiens erat, tunc erit insipiens, cum apparebit, quia dementia eius nota erit omnibus.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

12.

If the next difficulty in the mind of the inquirer arose from the divisions and heresies among those called Christians, he would learn that this too is taken notice of by the prophets. For, as if it was natural that, after being satisfied about the blindness of the Jews, this objection from the divisions among Christians should occur, Jeremiah, observing this order in his prophecy, immediately adds in the passage already quoted: "The partridge is clamorous, gathering what it has not brought forth, making riches without judgment." For the partridge is notoriously quarrelsome, and is often caught from its eagerness in quarreling. So the heretics discuss not to find the truth, but with a dogged determination to gain the victory one way or another, that they may gather, as the prophet says, what they have not brought forth. For those whom they lead astray are Christians already born of the gospel, whom the Christian profession of the heretics misleads. Thus they make riches not with judgment, but with inconsiderate haste. For they do not consider that the followers whom they gather as their riches are taken from the genuine original Christian society, and deprived of its benefits; and as the apostle describes these heretics in the words: "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so they also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was." ¹ So the prophet goes on to say of the partridge, which gathers what it has not brought forth: "In the midst of his days they shall leave him, and in the end he shall be a fool;" that is, he who at first misled people by a promising display of superior wisdom, shall be a fool, that is, shall be seen to be a fool. He will be seen when his folly is manifest to all men, and to those to whom he was at first a wise man he will then be a fool.