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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres
22.
Quid deinde sibi velit deo loquente ad Noe et tamquam rursus ab exordio – quia multis modis eadem significari oportebat – figuram ecclesiae commendante: p. 350,12 quod progenies eius benedicitur ad implendam terram, quod dantur eis in escam cuncta animalia, sicut in illo disco Petro dicitur: macta et manduca! , quod eiecto sanguine iubentur manducare: ne vita pristina quasi suffocata in conscientia teneatur, sed habeat tamquam effusionem per confessionem, quod testamentum posuit deus inter se et homines atque omnem animam vivam, ne perdat eam diluvio, arcum, qui apparet in nubibus, qui numquam nisi de sole resplendet: illi enim non pereunt diluvio, separati ab ecclesia, qui in prophetis et omnibus diuinis scripturis tamquam in dei nubibus agnoscunt Christi gloriam, non quaerunt suam. Verum ne adoratores huius solis amplius tumescant, sciant ita significari Christum aliquando per solem, sicut per leonem, per agnum, per lapidem cuiusdam similitudinis causa, non proprietatis substantia. p. 350,27
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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
22.
Then, again, it is significant that when God speaks to Noah, and begins anew, as it were, in order, by repetition in various forms, to draw attention to the figure of the Church, the sons of Noah are blessed, and told to replenish the earth, and all animals are given to them for food; as was said to Peter of the vessel, "Kill and eat." That they are told to pour out the blood when they eat; that the former life may not be kept shut up in the conscience, but may be, as it were, poured out in confession. That God makes the bow, which appears in the clouds only when the sun shines, the sign of His covenant with men, and with every living thing, that He will not destroy them with a flood; as those do not perish by the flood, in separation from the Church, who in the clouds of God--that is, in the prophets and in all the sacred Scriptures--discern the glory of Christ, instead of seeking their own glory. The worshippers of the sun, however, need not pride themselves on this; for they must understand that the sun, as also a lion, a lamb, and a stone, are used as types of Christ because they have some resemblance, not because they are of the same substance.