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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

58.

Proinde ut eam iuste comparet, impertit Rachel virum sorori suae illa nocte, ut scilicet qui virtute laboriosa regimini populorum accommodati sunt, etiamsi scientiae vacare delegerant, suscipiant experientiam temptationum curarumque sarcinam pro utilitate communi, ne ipsa doctrina sapientiae, cui vacare statuerunt, blasphemetur neque adipiscatur ab imperitioribus populis existimationem bonam, quod illa poma significant, et quod necessarium est ad exhortationem discentium. Sed plane ut hanc curam suscipiant, vi coguntur. Satis et hoc significatum est, quod cum veniret de agro Iacob, occurrit ei Lia eumque detinens ait: Ad me intrabis; conduxi enim te pro mandragoris filii mei, p. 654,4 tamquam diceret: Doctrinae, quam diligis, vis conferri bonam opinionem? Noli defugere officiosum laborem. Haec in ecclesia geri, quisquis adverterit, cernit. Experimur in exemplis, quod intellegamus in libris. Quis non videat hoc geri toto orbe terrarum, venire omnes (homines !) ex operibus saeculi et ire in otium cognoscendae et contemplandae veritatis tamquam in amplexum Rachel, et excipi de traverso ecclesiastica necessitate atque ordinari in laborem tamquam Lia dicente: Ad me intrabis? Quibus caste mysterium dei dispensantibus, ut in nocte huius saeculi filios generent fidei, laudatur a populis etiam illa vita, cuius amore conversi spem saeculi reliquerunt, et ex cuius professione ad misericordiam regendae plebis assumpti sunt. p. 654,16 Id enim agunt in omnibus laboribus suis, ut illa professio, quo se converterant, quia tales rectores populis dedit, latius et clarius glorificetur, tamquam Iacob non recusante noctem Liae, ut Rachel pomis suaveolentibus et clare nitentibus potiatur; quae aliquando et ipsa praestante misericordia dei per se ipsam parit, vix tandem quidem, quia perrarum est, ut in principio erat verbum et verbum erat apud deum et deus erat verbum et quicquid de hac re pie sapienterque dicitur sine phantasmate carnalis cogitationis et salubriter vel ex parte capiatur. p. 654,27

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

58.

To get this renown justly, Rachel gives her husband to her sister for the night; that is, those who, by a talent for business, are fitted for government, must for the public benefit consent to bear the burden and suffer the hardships of public life; lest the pursuit of wisdom, to which their leisure is devoted, should be evil spoken of, and should not gain from the multitude the good opinion, represented by the fruit, which is necessary for the encouragement of their pupils. But the life of business must be forced upon them. This is clearly shown by Leah's meeting Jacob when coming from the field, and laying hold of him, saying, "Thou shalt come in to me; for I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes." ¹ As if she said, Dost thou wish the knowledge which thou lovest to be well thought of? Do not shirk the toil of business. The same thing happens constantly in the Church. What we read is explained by what we meet with in our own experience. Do we not everywhere see men coming from secular employments, to seek leisure for the study and contemplation of truth, their beloved Rachel, and intercepted mid-way by ecclesiastical affairs, which require them to be set to work, as if Leah said to them, You must come in to me? When such men minister in sincerity the mystery of God, so as in the night of this world to beget sons in the faith, popular approval is gained also for that life, in love for which they were led to abandon worldly pursuits, and from the adoption of which they were called away to undertake the benevolent task of government. In all their labors they aim chiefly at this, that their chosen way of life may have greater and wider renown, as having supplied the people with such leaders; as Jacob consents to go with Leah, that Rachel may obtain the sweet-smelling and good-looking fruit. Rachel, too, in course of time, by the mercy of God, brings forth a child herself, but not till after some time; for it seldom happens that there is a sound, though only partial, apprehension, without fleshly ideas, of such sacred lessons of wisdom as this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." ²