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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

25.

Christum dicitis ab Israhelitis prophetis non esse praedictum, cui praedicendo omnes illae paginae vigilant, si eas perscrutari pietate quam exagitare levitate malletis. Quis alius in Abraham exit de terra sua et de cognatione sua, ut apud exteros ditetur et locupletetur, nisi qui relicta terra et cognatione Iudaeorum, unde secundum carnem natus est, apud gentes ita praepollet et praevalet, ut videmus? Quis alius in Isaac lignum sibi portabat ad victimam, nisi qui crucem sibi ad passionem ipse portavit? p. 354,5 Quis alius aries immolandus in vepre cornibus adhaerebat, nisi qui crucis patibulo pro nobis offerendus affigebatur?

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

25.

You say that Christ was not foretold by the prophets of Israel, when, in fact, their Scriptures teem with such predictions, if you would only examine them carefully, instead of treating them with levity. Who in Abraham leaves his country and kindred that he may become rich and prosperous among strangers, but He who, leaving the land and country of the Jews, of whom He was born in the flesh, is now extending His power, as we see, among the Gentiles? Who in Isaac carried the wood for His own sacrifice, but He who carried His own cross? Who is the ram for sacrifice, caught by the horns in a. bush, but He who was fastened to the cross as an offering for us?