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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

12.

Non ergo conviciatur Moyses soli et lunae, cum eos vetat adorari, sed eos laudat tamquam creaturam caelestem, deum autem laudat tamquam creatorem caelestium et terrestrium nec vult offendi deum, cum illi pro illo adorantur, qui propter illum et ex illo laudantur. At quam sibi Faustus argute reprehendere visus est, quod etiam maledictum vocat Moyses, qui solem adoraverit ac lunam! Si ergo inquit sub gentili positus rege solem cogar adorare et, cum restitero maledictum hoc metuens, iubear crucifigi, in aliud eius incurram maledictum, quod adversus eum deprompsit, qui pendet in ligno. Vos quidem nullus rex gentilis cogit adorare solem, quod nec ipse sol cogeret, si in terra regnaret, quia nec nunc a vobis hoc vult fieri. Sed sicut creator ipse impios blasphematores suos usque ad iudicium sustinet, sic et ipsa caelestia tolerant vanos adoratores suos usque ad iudicium creatoris sui. Tamen mementote christianum regem non posse cogere, ut sol adoretur. p. 413,6 De gentili enim rege exemplum Faustus proposuit sciens profecto ad gentiles pertinere, quod facitis, cum solem adoratis; non est hoc ergo christianum. Sed ubique iam perdix nomen Christi ponit, ut congreget, quae non peperit. Videte tamen, quam facile respondeat veritas, et sana doctrina quam facile dirumpat hunc vestrae quaestionis tamquam inevitabilem et bicipitem laqueum! Ecce faciamus aliquem armatum regia potestate comminari homini christiano, ut si solem adorare noluerit, suspendatur in ligno! Si declinavero inquis maledictum, quod lex prompsit in solis adoratorem, incidam in illud, quod eadem lex prompsit in eum, qui pependerit in ligno. 413,17 Ita vero turbaberis; sed tu, immo nec tu, qui et nullo cogente adoras solem. At vero christianus aedificatus supra fundamentum apostolorum et prophetarum attendit singulas causas et singula maledicta, videt unum pertinere ad corpus mortale, quod ligno suspenditur, alterum ad animum, quo sol adoratur. Etsi enim corpus inclinatur in adorando, animus tamen aut colit, quod adorat, aut fingit. Utrumque autem perniciosum est. Quapropter quoniam maledictum in utroque mors meruit, sicut mors corporis in ligno pendere, ita mors animi est solem adorare, eligendum est igitur maledictum in corporis morte, quo maledicto et ipsum corpus in resurrectione liberabitur, devitandum autem maledictum in animae morte, ne cum suo corpore in aeterno igne damnetur. p. 414,2 Hanc enim quaestionem nobis dominus solvit dicens: Nolite timere eos, qui corpus occidunt, animam autem non possunt occidere; sed eum timete, qui habet potestatem et animam et corpus occidere in gehennam ignis, tamquam diceret: Nolite timere maledictum corporalis mortis, quod temporaliter solvitur, sed timete maledictum spiritalis mortis, per quod anima in aeternum cum suo corpore cruciatur. Ecce non est anicularis maledictio, sed prophetica praedictio: Maledictus omnis, qui pendet in ligno. Sic enim auferet Christus de maledicto maledictum, quomodo de morte mortem, de peccato peccatum. Sic ergo non blasphemavit Moyses dicendo: Maledictus omnis, qui pendet in ligno, quomodo non blasphemaverunt apostoli docendo: Mortuus est et: Vetus homo noster confixus est cruci cum illo et: De peccato damnavit peccatum et: Eum, qui non noverat peccatum, peccatum pro nobis fecit et multa huiusmodi. p. 414,19 Vos autem cum horretis maledictum Christum, fatemini vos horrere mortem Christi. Ubi apparet vestra non anicularis maledictio, sed diabolica simulatio, qui mortem corporis Christi animae vestrae morte non creditis; quam tamen mortem Christi non veram, sed simulatam suadetis, quasi non audeatis per nomen christianum homines fallere, nisi ipsum Christum magistrum fallaciae faciatis.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

12.

Moses, then, casts no reproach on the sun and moon when he prohibits their worship. He praises them as heavenly bodies; while he also praises God as the Creator of both heavenly and earthly, and will not allow of His being insulted by giving the worship due to Him to those who are praised only as dependent upon Him. Faustus prides himself on the ingenuity of his objection to the curse pronounced by Moses on the worship of the sun and moon. He says, "If under a heathen monarch I am forced to worship the sun, and if from fear of this curse I refuse, shall I incur this other curse by suffering the punishment of crucifixion?" No heathen monarch is forcing you to worship the sun: nor would the sun itself force you, if it were reigning on the earth, as neither does it now wish to be worshipped. As the Creator bears with blasphemers till the judgment, so these celestial bodies bear with their deluded worshippers till the judgment of the Creator. It should be observed that no Christian monarch could enforce the worship of the sun. Faustus instances a heathen monarch, for he knows that their worship of the sun is a heathen custom. Yet, in spite of this opposition to Christianity, the partridge takes the name of Christ, that it may gather what it has not brought forth. The answer to this objection is easy, and the force of truth will soon break the horns of this dilemma. Suppose, then, a Christian threatened by royal authority with being hung on a tree if he will not worship the sun. If I avoid, you say, the curse pronounced by the law on the worshipper of the sun, I incur the curse pronounced by the same law on him that hangs on a tree. So you will be in a difficulty; only that you worship the sun without being forced by anybody. But a true Christian, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, distinguishes the curses, and the reasons of them. He sees that one refers to the mortal body which is hung on the tree, and the other to the mind which worships the sun. For though the body bows in worship,--which also is a heinous offence,--the belief or imagination of the object worshipped is an act of the mind. The death implied in both curses is in one case the death of the body, and in the other the death of the soul. It is better to have the curse in bodily death,--which will be removed in the resurrection,--than the curse in the death of the soul, condemning it along with the body to eternal fire. The Lord solves this difficulty in the words: "Fear not them that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but fear him who has power to cast both soul and body into hell-fire." ¹ In other words, fear not the curse of bodily death, which in time is removed; but fear the curse of spiritual death, which leads to the eternal torment of both soul and body. Be assured, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree is no old wife's railing, but a prophetical utterance. Christ, by the curse, takes the curse away, as He takes away death by death, and sin by sin. In the words, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," there is no more blasphemy than in the words of the apostle, "He died," or, "Our old man was crucified along with Him," ² or, "By sin He condemned sin," ³ or, "He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin," ⁴ and in many similar passages. Confess, then, that when you exclaim against the curse of Christ, you exclaim against His death. If this is not an old wife's railing on your part, it is devilish delusion, which makes you deny the death of Christ because your own souls are dead. You teach people that Christ's death was feigned, making Christ your leader in the falsehood with which you use the name of Christian to mislead men.