Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

3.

For my part, as a Manichaean, this verse has little difficulty for me, for at the outset I am taught to believe that many things which pass in Scripture under the name of the Saviour are spurious, and that they must therefore be tested to find whether they are true, and sound, and genuine; for the enemy who comes by night has corrupted almost every passage by sowing tares among the wheat. So I am not alarmed by these words, notwithstanding the sacred name affixed to them; for I still claim the liberty to examine whether this comes from the hand of the good sower, who sows in the day-time, or of the evil one, who sows in the night. But what escape from this difficulty can there be for you, who receive everything without examination, condemning the use of reason, which is the prerogative of human nature, and thinking it impiety to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and as much afraid of separating between what is good and what is not as children are of ghosts? For suppose a Jew or any one acquainted with these words should ask you why you do not keep the precepts of the law and the prophets, since Christ says that he came not to destroy but to fulfill them: you will be obliged either to join in the superstitious follies of the Jews, or to declare this verse false, or to deny that you are a follower of Christ.

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

3.

Et tamen me quidem iam adversus capituli huius necessitudinem Manichaea fides reddidit tutum, quae principio mihi non cunctis, quae ex salvatoris nomine scripta leguntur, passim credere persuasit, sed probare, si sint eadem vera, si sana, si incorrupta. Esse enim permulta zizania, quae in contagium boni seminis scripturis paene omnibus noctivagus quidam seminator insperserit. p. 492,6 Idcircoque me ne hic quidem terruerit sermo, quamvis reverendi nominis prae se ferat inscriptionem, quia probare mihi adhuc ex proposito licet, utrumne et hic interdiani satoris et boni sit, an nocturni illius et pessimi. Tu vero, qui temere omnia credis, qui naturae beneficium rationem ex hominibus damnas, cui inter verum falsumque iudicare religio est, cuique bonum a contrario separare non minus formidini est quam infantibus maniae, quid facturus eris, cum te in capituli huius angustiam necessitas coget, dico autem, cum te Iudaeus seu quis alter sermonis istius non inscius interpellabit, quid ita legis et prophetarum praecepta non serves, cum Christus eadem non venisse solvere dicat sed adimplere? p. 492,18 Nempe cogeris aut vanae superstitioni succumbere aut capitulum profiteri falsum aut te Christi negare discipulum.