8. Against the Arians.

I would still pursue the Manichaean, but I suffer the hostile Arian, who trusts in his own strength and boasts in his power ¹; and the Son says, The Father sent me ². As far as I understand, this light of the nations is so bright and clear that heretics, unable to comprehend and perceive it, are blinded and cannot walk in it, but rather wander. The Arian says one thing, the Sabellian another. What kind of war is this? What does the Catholic say to these things? He says, the weapons they carry are mine: they fight for me; both fight against each other, but for me: would that both would fail, and neither would turn to the other, but to me! I will also bring forth something from which both may be struck. You, Arian, say that the one who sends is greater, the one who is sent is lesser: I ask you, who is greater, the one who precedes, or the one who is preceded? Likewise, who is greater, the one for whom something is prepared when coming, or the one who prepares it: the one to whom service is rendered, or the one who renders it? Surely if you ask the human race [P. 1113], they will answer that the one who is preceded, for whom something is prepared, or to whom service is rendered, is greater. You wish to prove from this that the Son is lesser because he was sent: I show that the one who sent precedes the one he sent; nor do I say that either of them is greater, because I do not dare to say that either is lesser. The prophet Isaiah says, Thus says the Lord to my Christ, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him. Behold, now the Father accompanies the sent Son. Follow further: And I will turn the backs of kings, and open doors before him, and gates will not be closed ³. Behold, the one who sent has become a forerunner. For who is greater or superior who opens doors before the lesser? Or how does he do it, unless he has also preceded a little? Listen further, And the gates, he says, will not be closed. How? I will go before you ⁴. You see that the one who sent also accompanies and precedes: he sends, and does not depart. It is not enough that he does not depart, he even precedes. Now you discern who is greater, who is more powerful: for I see no distinction, but rather equality. The Son says of the Father, He sent me ⁵. The Father says to the Son, I will go before you. Let the discordant calamity depart: equality shows this, not disparity. Follow further, so that it may appear more clearly who says to whom: I will go before you, and humble the glorious of the earth. Be here also, pagan. Hear what the prophet says. I did not write what I wanted: the codex in which these writings are read is kept in the Jew's library. My enemy is my witness; ask him; open, read, and believe. I will turn the backs of kings, and humble the glorious of the earth. Do you not see the kings of the earth, who once persecuted Christians, now being Christians? Do you not see those who humbled the Church, humbly entering the Church? Do you not now see them as defenders, whom once they had as persecutors? I will go before you, and humble the glorious of the earth. I will break the bronze gates, and shatter the iron bars. And I will give you hidden treasures and the secrets of secrets, so that you may know that I am God, who calls your name, the God of Israel ⁶. Let the Sabellian hear, God says, to God he says. Therefore, there are two; the one who speaks, and the one to whom he speaks. Let the Arian also hear: I am God, and there is no other besides me ⁷. I have long labored in fighting against these two heresies, and I am almost exhausted. Come, my Lord Jesus, mightiest warrior, prince of the Lord's army who conquered the devil and the world, Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me ⁸. About to go into battle, and about to conquer the world, he prayed; not as one lacking power, since he was omnipotent; but to show us, for which he came, the teaching of humility. And what did he say? Father, glorify your Son ⁹. Now the accursed Arian says, See, he is lesser, and would not have glory unless he asked the Father? Wait, man, why are you in such a hurry? You see a man, in whose form he is lesser not only than the Father, but also than the angels ¹⁰: the man appears, God is hidden. You show me a humble man: open your eyes, and see the sublime God, not lesser than the angels, but equal to the Father. Father, he says, glorify your Son: behold the lesser. Follow further, That your Son may also glorify you ¹¹: behold the equal. We find the Son acknowledging the Father, and praying, and being united to him, not as was thought ungrateful. Let us see what the Father says about the Son. Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother (these are the words of the Gospel), and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as snow. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him ¹². Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets; they spoke with him, because they had spoken of him; they showed whom they had foretold, they manifested whom they had prophesied. They spoke: do you think, what did they speak? So that the Jews would be convinced, the Pagans converted, the Manichaeans confounded, the Heretics suppressed, the Catholics confirmed. The law spoke [P. 1114] and grace, harshness and gentleness, terror and meekness, command and assistance, the tool and the physician, shadow and light, the herald and the judge, the sentence and mercy. And what after these things? Peter answered and said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, let us make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah ¹³. What do you say, holy Peter? The world is in labor, and you seek secrecy? Do you see so many nations gathered together, and you seek rest? Do you see the darkness of the world, and you hide the light? No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house ¹⁴. This house is the whole world: the lighting of the lamp is the incarnation of the Word: the lampstand, however, is the wood of the cross: the lamp shining on the lampstand is Christ hanging on the cross. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. You have seen, let us also see. There is darkness, let us not stumble among the Pagans, let us not err among the heretics: let the lamp shine for us, let the Word in the flesh teach us. Let us see what the Evangelist says, let us see if Peter's counsel was admitted: While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice from the cloud said ¹⁵. Let us all hear, let no one close their ears. Let the mocking Pagans hear, let the persecuting Jews hear, let the Manichaean dreamers of phantasms hear, let the errant litigating heretics hear; let them hear, and especially let the Catholics, the faithful worshipers of God, hear. Let these hear to be instructed, those to be corrected: or let these hear not to be seduced, those to be punished. What does the voice from the cloud say? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ¹⁶. Where are you who oppose the Son of God? The Father says, This is my Son: and you say, God has no Son. You pagan, why do you stand outside and murmur? Enter here into the school of God, open the ears of your heart, hear the voice of the Lord, and learn the Son of God. What will you do, Jews, who killed the Son of God? Where will you flee, where will you hide? What mountains, what rocks will fall upon you? And if you hide in the caves of the rocks, I will draw you out from there, says the Lord ¹⁷. But you too come, enter, hear my counsel, do not despair: for there is a remnant for the peaceful man ¹⁸. You have raged, you have killed, you have shed the blood of Christ, you are in danger, you have been unbelieving to the Son of God. What then do you have to do now, except to believe, be baptized, and drink the blood you shed? There is nothing to fear: the blood of the physician was shed, and it became the medicine for the frenzied. Why do you hesitate? Taste and see that the Lord is good ¹⁹. What about you, Manichaean, how long will you dream of phantasms? Wake up, and see; the clouds thunder. What do they thunder? This is my beloved Son ²⁰. See on earth a true man, hear from heaven a true God: see on earth the son of man, hear from heaven that he is the Son of God. Recognize that both are true, that is, God and man, the Son of God and the son of man are one and the same God and man. Acknowledge the man, and you will appease God. Beware lest you stumble on the rock, and suffer the ruin of death: for what you dream is vanity; what God thunders is truth. Hear, you Sabellian, hear from heaven the Father, see on earth the Son, and do not say, The Father is the same as the Son. Hear, and you Arian, and do not err in the Father and the Son, but follow the unity, and see the divinity. Lord, let us hear what you say about your Son: This is, he says, my Son. See on earth the son of man, hear from heaven that he is the Son of God. My beloved in whom I am well pleased. And what? Listen to him. Thanks be to God. The command of God thundered, and Peter's counsel was removed. Thank you, God of Power; thank you, [P. 1115] God the Father, who showed your Son and gave me a teacher. Let the Sabellian depart, let the Arian depart, let all other plagues depart, let all wicked doctrine depart. Let God teach, not Arius: let the Son of God teach, not the adversary of the Son. Speak, my Lord Jesus, teach, let me learn what to teach. The Sabellian says, The Father is the same as the Son. The Arian says, The Father is one, the Son is another; the Father is greater, the Son is lesser. He opposes, cries out, argues, fights, gathers crowds, fights against Christ. He shed blood to redeem; this one scatters money to destroy. He builds a cave, there he strangles the Catholic, calls the Christian a pagan, imposes Baptism on the baptized, contrary to what is written, He who is washed once does not need to be washed again ²¹. The man cries out, I am a Christian: why do you say I am what I am not? He cries out, I am faithful: and he says, Take money from me. He cries out, I am redeemed: and he says, Take gold from me. What do you give, or what do you take away? You give money to take away grace: you give money to take away life: you give a price to take away what I was bought with. What do you buy from the bought? My price is not gold, but the blood of Christ: you do not seduce me, you do not deceive me; however much you confer on me, you do not take away my price. May your money perish with you ²²: for my price has no price. The man cries out: I am faithful, and you blow upon me. He cries out, I was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and you blow upon me. What then do you reserve for the Christian, in whom you blow upon the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Or perhaps you have brought a new faith, a new baptism, a new god from overseas? Speak, my holy teacher Paul, teach, skilled in divine law, friend of the bridegroom: this man has just come, he subverts the world, and divides the unity of faith, divides the Trinity, insists on rebaptizing those who do not agree with him; what do I do? In Jesus himself through the Gospel you have begotten me ²³, I was baptized in Christ. Or is there another baptism or another [P. 1116] faith? God forbid, you say: One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all ²⁴. If therefore there is one faith, indeed because there is one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all: I have already believed, I have already been baptized, I already have God as Father: why do I suffer the murderous Arian? Help, my Lord Jesus, and gird your sword upon your thigh, most mighty ²⁵. Most mighty of all, go forth, kill them in themselves, so that they may live in you, cease to persecute me. The Sabellians take you away, the Arians diminish you: what do you say about yourself? The Father said to listen to you: when we listen to you, we listen to him: strike both adversaries with one blow. Let them perish, he says, the vain talkers, and the seducers of minds, Arian and Sabellian: for I and the Father are one ²⁶. He did not say, I and the Father are one; but, I and the Father are one. What I say, one, let the Arian hear: what I say, we are, let the Sabellian hear. Let the Arian not divide, one: let the Sabellian not erase, we are: but let both come, and let them also be in us one, just as I and the Father are one ²⁷. Therefore if the Father and the Son are one, indeed because they are undoubtedly one, not two gods, but one God: the prophet did not write something mimical, but spoke the truth, the Lord saying, Before me no god was formed, and after me there will be none ²⁸. Truth taught truth, and with a double-edged sword destroyed all error. If the heretics still resist, let the Catholics hear the definitive sentence, which they should follow.