Against Faustus the Manichaean 13.16–13.18

By these and similar arguments, which we now touch on briefly but which might then perhaps be argued at somewhat greater length, as needed to dispel a long-standing error, and supported with the strength of fuller proof, that Gentile whom Faustus set before us to be instructed would surely be moved to faith, if he put his salvation before his sins. Once instructed in it and placed in the bosom of the Catholic Church to be nurtured, he would accordingly also be taught what morals he ought to keep; and he would not be disturbed by the multitude of those in whom he did not find what he was commanded to observe, even though they gathered with him bodily in the church and received the same sacraments. He would know that the inheritance of God is to be shared with few, but its seals with many; that he shares with few the holiness of life and the gift of the love poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, to which inner fountain no stranger comes; but with many the holiness of the sacrament, of which he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, while he who scorns to eat will not have life in himself, and therefore will not reach eternal life. And he would know that these same few are called few in comparison with the multitude of the wicked, but that, considered by themselves, they are a great number, spread over the whole world, growing among the tares and with the chaff until the day of harvest and of winnowing. This was said in the gospel; this was foretold by the prophets. For it was foretold: “As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters”; it was foretold: “I dwelt with the tents of Kedar; with those who hated peace I was peaceable”; it was foretold: “Mark on their foreheads those who sigh and mourn over the iniquities of my people that are done in their midst.” And so this Gentile, whom we would strengthen with such an address, having now become a fellow citizen of the saints and a member of God's household, no longer a stranger to Israel but a true Israelite in whom there is no guile, would learn also to say from a simple heart these words which the same Jeremiah goes on to add: “The patience of Israel, Lord; let all who have forsaken you be terrified.” For when he had spoken of the partridge which cries out and gathers what it did not hatch, he commended the excellence of the city set on a mountain which cannot be hidden, so that the heretic should not separate a man from the Catholic Church, saying: “But the seat of glory is exalted, our sanctification.” Then, as though it came into his mind, “What then shall we do about so many wicked people, who are mixed in everywhere all the more as the glory of Christ is more eminent in the unity of all nations?”, he at once added: “The patience of Israel, Lord.” For what he said must be borne patiently: “Let both grow until the harvest,” and the good must not be forsaken through impatience in tolerating the wicked; for the good are properly the body of Christ, and therefore when they are forsaken, he is forsaken. Hence he went on and added: “Let all who forsake you be terrified; let those who have withdrawn be confounded on the earth.” For “earth” is a man who presumes on himself and induces others to presume on him; and therefore there follows: “They shall be overthrown, because they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.” For what else does the partridge cry, but that the fountain of life is with it and given by it, gathered to which they withdraw from Christ, deceived by the promise of Christ, in whose name they were already instructed? For it does not gather those whom it hatched, but, to gather those whom it did not hatch, it says: “The salvation which Christ promised is with me; I will give it.” But see what the prophet says: “Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved.” Hence the apostle says, “Let no one glory in man,” and the prophet adds: “For you are my glory.” In these ways we instruct a man from apostolic and prophetic teaching, so that he may be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

But how would Faustus persuade a Gentile of the divinity of Christ, when he has him say, “I believe neither the prophets about Christ nor Christ about the prophets”? Would he believe Christ speaking about himself, when he would not believe him testifying about others? It is truly ridiculous to think so. For one whom he did not once judge worthy of belief, he would either believe in nothing at all, or would rather believe him testifying for others than for himself. Here perhaps Faustus, laughed at, would read the man the Sibyls and Orpheus and the rest of that kind, if he found any other Gentiles who had foretold anything about Christ? But he would not do so; for he has confessed that they are unknown to him, saying: “Certainly, if there are, as report has it, any predictions about Christ by the Sibyl, or by Hermes whom they call Trismegistus, or by Orpheus and other seers among the Gentiles.” Not knowing their writings, then, since he thinks there are some such only by report, he would certainly not read them to the man who says, “I believe neither the prophets nor Christ.” What then would he do? Would he bring forward Mani and commend Christ from him? They have never done this; rather they have always tried to commend Mani from Christ, whose name is now sweetly renowned everywhere, so as to smear the lips of their poisoned cup with this honey, of course. For since Christ promised his own that he would send the Paraclete, that is, the Comforter or Advocate, the Spirit of truth, they take the occasion of this promise and, saying that this Paraclete is Mani, or is in Mani, they creep into the minds of men who do not know when the one promised by Christ was sent. But those who have read the canonical book entitled the Acts of the Apostles see that promise of Christ recalled there again and there most plainly fulfilled. But we are now asking how he would make the Gentile believe about Christ. For I think no one is so blind as to want to say, “I believe Mani,” while he says, “I do not believe Christ.” And then, if not laughing, at least angry, he would say: “So you bid me believe Persian books, after telling me not to believe Hebrew ones?” How then, heretic, will you catch this man, unless you find him already in some way subject to the name of Christ, so that, since he no longer doubts that Christ is to be believed, he may be deceived and agree with Mani as a better preacher of Christ? See, there is that partridge gathering what it did not hatch. Do you, whom it gathers, not yet forsake it, and does he not yet appear to you a fool, who says that the testimonies of the Hebrews, even if true, are useless to us before faith and superfluous after faith?

Let those who have believed, then, throw away all the books through which it came about that they believed. For if this is true, I do not see why even the gospel of Christ itself should be read by the faithful. For before faith it is useless, since that Gentile whom Faustus brings in laughing, Faustus himself to be laughed at or rather wept over, does not believe Christ; and after faith it is superfluous, if even true proclamations about Christ are believed needlessly once one has believed in him. Here perhaps you will say: “But one who already believes ought to read the gospel, so as not to forget what he believed.” In the same way then, madmen, he ought to read the true testimonies of the prophets too, so as not to forget why he believed; for if he forgets that, what he believed cannot be firm in him. Or else throw away now the books of Mani, on whose testimony you believed that the light fought with the darkness, which light was God himself, and that, so that the light might bind the darkness, the light was first devoured and bound and defiled and torn by the darkness; which light you, by eating, restore and release and purify and heal, so that your reward may be paid you, that you may not be condemned in the eternal globe along with that part which could not be freed. This little fable you sing daily in your morals and your words. Why do you still look for the testimony of books in its favour, so that another's substance, and that of your bound god, is spent and held fast in superfluous things and in the making of your manuscripts? Burn all those parchments and the elegant bindings made of fine leathers, so that no superfluous thing may burden you, and your god, who is held bound even in a book as if in a servile punishment, may be released from them. For if you could eat your books, even boiled, what a benefit you would bestow on the members of your god! Or, if it could be done, would the uncleanness of flesh forbid the pages from your meals? Then let the cleanness of the ink blame itself, for sticking to the lambskin. But you did this too, who, as in your first war, fixed what was clean in the pen to the uncleanness of the parchments by writing; except that the colours accuse you with the contrary evidence: for it is rather you who came with the darkness of the ink to the light of white pages. Ought you to be angry with us for saying such things, or with yourselves for believing such things, so that, whether you will or not, these consequences follow? We, however, read the prophetic and apostolic books, which sing in harmony with each other's voices, to remind us of our faith, to comfort our hope, and to encourage our love; and by that harmony, as by a heavenly trumpet, they rouse us from the torpor of mortal life and stretch us toward the prize of the upward call. For when the apostle had recalled something from the prophetic books, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me,” he at once added the usefulness of divine reading: “For whatever was written before,” he says, “was written for our instruction, so that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures we might have hope in God.” But Faustus contradicts this. Then let what Paul says happen to him: “If anyone preaches to you a gospel other than what you received, let him be anathema.”