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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

48.

Verum nos eis, qui hanc virtutem non habent, ita de sanctorum virorum moribus iudicium committere non debemus, sicut de ciborum suavitate ac salubritate iudicare febrientes non sinimus, potiusque illis sanorum sensu et praecepto medicamine, quam ex eorum aegritudinis affectione alimenta praeparamus. Proinde isti si volunt non falsae atque adumbratae, sed verae ac solidae pudicitiae capere sanitatem, divinae scripturae tamquam libris medicinalibus credant non frustra tam magnum honorem sanctitatis tributum quibusdam viris etiam plures uxores habentibus, nisi quia fieri potest, ut imperator carnis animus tanta temperantiae potestate praepolleat, ut genitalis delectationis motum insitum naturae mortalium ex providentia generandi leges impositas non permittat excedere. p. 640,16 Alioquin possunt isti maledici potius calumniatores quam veredici iudices etiam sanctos apostolos accusare, quod non caritate generandi filios vitae aeternae, sed cupiditate laudis humanae populis tam multis evangelium praedicaverint. Neque enim deerat illis evangelicis patribus per omnes Christi ecclesias fama praeclara tot linguis laudantibus comparata; immo vero tanta aderat, ut maior hominibus ab hominibus honor et gloria deferri non debeat. Hanc in ecclesia gloriam perversa voluntate Simon perditus concupivit, quando ab eis pecunia voluit caecus emere, quod illi divina gratia eademque gratuita meruerunt. Huius avidus gloriae fuisse intellegitur, quem se volentem sequi dominus in evangelio revocat dicens: Vulpes foveas habent et volucres caeli diversoria; filius autem hominis non habet, ubi caput suum reclinet. p. 641,2 Videbat enim eum dolosa simulatione tenebrosum et ventosa elatione iactatum non habere fidei locum, ubi se inclinantem doctorem humilitatis exciperet, quia in discipulatu Christi non illius gratiam, sed suam gloriam requirebat. Hoc amore gloriae corrupti erant, quos Paulus apostolus notat, quod per invidiam et contentionem non caste Christum adnuntiarent, quibus tamen praedicantibus gaudet apostolus sciens fieri posse, ut, dum illi sectantur humanae gloriae cupiditatem, tamen his auditis fideles nascerentur, non ex eorum invida cupiditate, qua se volebant vel aequari vel anteponi apostolicae gloriae, sed per evangelium, quod etiamsi non caste, tamen adnuntiabant, p. 641,13 ut de malo illorum deus operaretur bonum, sicut fieri potest, ut homo ad concubitum non ingrediatur voluntate generandi, sed luxuriandi libidine rapiatur et tamen nascatur homo, bonum dei opus de fecunditate seminum, non de turpitudine vitiorum. Sicut ergo sancti apostoli auditoribus admirantibus doctrinam suam condelectabantur non aviditate consequendae laudis, sed caritate seminandae veritatis, ita sancti patriarchae coniugibus excipientibus semen suum miscebantur non concupiscentia percipiendae voluptatis, sed providentia propagandae successionis; ac per hoc nec illos ambitiosos multitudo populorum nec illos libidinosos multitudo faciebat uxorum. p. 641,24 Sed quid de viris loquar, quibus excellentissimum testimonium divina voce perhibetur, cum ipsas feminas satis eluceat nihil aliud in concubitu appetisse quam filios? Quippe ubi se minime parere viderunt, famulas suas dederunt viro suo, ut illas matres facerent carne, ipsae fierent voluntate.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

48.

But those who have not the virtues of temperance must not be allowed to judge of the conduct of holy men, any more than those in fever of the sweetness and wholesomeness of food. Nourishment must be provided not by the dictates of the sickly taste, but rather by the judgment and direction of health, so as to cure the sickness. If our critics, then, wish to attain not a spurious and affected, but a genuine and sound moral health, let them find a cure in believing the Scripture record, that the honorable name of saint is given not without reason to men who had several wives; and that the reason is this, that the mind can exercise such control over the flesh as not to allow the appetite implanted in our nature by Providence to go beyond the limits of deliberate intention. By a similar misunderstanding, this criticism, which consists rather in dishonest slander than in honest judgment, might accuse the holy apostles too of preaching the gospel to so many people, not from the desire of begetting children to eternal life, but from the love of human praise. There was no lack of renown to these our fathers in the gospel, for their praise was spread in numerous tongues through the churches of Christ. In fact, no greater honor and glory could have been paid by men to their fellow-creatures. It was the sinful desire for this glory in the Church which led the reprobate Simon in his blindness to wish to purchase for money what was freely bestowed on the apostles by divine grace. ¹ There must have been this desire of glory in the man whom the Lord in the Gospel checks in his desire to follow Him, saying, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His Head." ² The Lord saw that his mind was darkened by false appearances and elated by sudden emotion, and that there was no ground of faith to afford a lodging to the Teacher of humility; for in Christ's discipleship the man sought not Christ's grace, but his own glory. By this love of glory those were led away whom the Apostle Paul characterizes as preaching Christ not sincerely, but of contention and envy; and yet the apostle rejoices in their preaching, knowing that it might happen that, while the preachers gratified their desire for human praise, believers might be born among their hearers,--not as the result of the envious feeling which made them wish to rival or surpass the fame of the apostles, but by means of the gospel which they preached, though not sincerely; so that God might bring good out of their evil. So a man may be induced to marry by sensual desire, and not to beget children; and yet a child may be born, a good work of God, due to the natural power, not to the misconduct of the parent. As, therefore, the holy apostles were gratified when their doctrine met with acceptance from their hearers, not because they were greedy for praise, but because they desired to spread the truth; so the holy patriarchs in their conjugal intercourse were actuated not by the love of pleasure, but by the intelligent desire for the continuance of their family. Thus the number of their hearers did not make the apostles ambitious; nor did the number of their wives make the patriarchs licentious. But why defend the husbands, to whose character the divine word bears the highest testimony, when it appears that the wives themselves looked upon their connection with their husbands only as a means of getting sons? So, when they found themselves barren, they gave their handmaids to their husbands; so that while the handmaids had the fleshly motherhood, the wives were mothers in intention.