Table Of ContentNPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against
the Manichaeans and Against the Donatists
by
Philip Schaff
About NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans and Against
the Donatists by Philip Schaff
Title: NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans and
Against the Donatists
URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf104.html
Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)
Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Print Basis: New York: The Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890
Rights: Public Domain
General Comments: Greek proofed by SLK; conforms to print basis (even where this is in
error)
CCEL Subjects: All; Proofed; Early Church
LC Call no: BR60
LC Subjects: Christianity
Early Christian Literature. Fathers of the Church, etc.
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
Table of Contents
About This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. ii
Title Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 1
Editor’s Preface.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 2
Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 3
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 5
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5
Introductory Essay on the Manichæan Heresy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5
Literature.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5
Sources.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5
Modern Works.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 7
Philosophical Basis, and Antecedents of Manichæism.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 8
The Manichæan System.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 10
Relation of Manichæism to Zoroastrianism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 20
The Relation of Manichæism to the Old Babylonian Religion as Seen in
Mandæism and Sabeanism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 22
The Relation of Manichæism to Buddhism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 23
The Relation of Manichæism to Judaism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 25
The Relation of Manichæism to Christianity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 26
Augustin and the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 29
Outline of Manichæan History.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 33
Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 34
On the Morals of the Catholic Church.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 40
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 40
Argument.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 40
How the Pretensions of the Manichæans are to Be Refuted. Two
Manichæan Falsehoods.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 41
He Begins with Arguments, in Compliance with the Mistaken Method of
the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 42
Happiness is in the Enjoyment of Man’s Chief Good. Two Conditions of
the Chief Good: 1st, Nothing is Better Than It; 2d, It Cannot Be Lost
Against the Will.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 42
Man—What?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 43
Man’s Chief Good is Not the Chief Good of the Body Only, But the Chief
Good of the Soul.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 43
iii
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
Virtue Gives Perfection to the Soul; The Soul Obtains Virtue by Following
God; Following God is the Happy Life.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 44
The Knowledge of God to Be Obtained from the Scripture. The Plan and
Principal Mysteries of the Divine Scheme of Redemption.. . . . . . . . . p. 45
God is the Chief Good, Whom We are to Seek After with Supreme
Affection.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 46
Harmony of the Old and New Testament on the Precepts of
Charity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 46
What the Church Teaches About God. The Two Gods of the
Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 47
God is the One Object of Love; Therefore He is Man’s Chief Good.
Nothing is Better Than God. God Cannot Be Lost Against Our Will.. . . p. 49
We are United to God by Love, in Subjection to Him.. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 50
We are Joined Inseparably to God by Christ and His Spirit.. . . . . . . . p. 50
We Cleave to the Trinity, Our Chief Good, by Love.. . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 51
The Christian Definition of the Four Virtues.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 52
Harmony of the Old and New Testaments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 52
Appeal to the Manichæans, Calling on Them to Repent.. . . . . . . . . . p. 54
Only in the Catholic Church is Perfect Truth Established on the Harmony
of Both Testaments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 55
Description of the Duties of Temperance, According to the Sacred
Scriptures.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 56
We are Required to Despise All Sensible Things, and to Love God
Alone.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 57
Popular Renown and Inquisitiveness are Condemned in the Sacred
Scriptures.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 57
Fortitude Comes from the Love of God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 58
Scripture Precepts and Examples of Fortitude.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 59
Of Justice and Prudence.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 60
Four Moral Duties Regarding the Love of God, of Which Love the Reward
is Eternal Life and the Knowledge of the Truth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 61
Love of Ourselves and of Our Neighbor.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 62
On Doing Good to the Body of Our Neighbor.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 63
On Doing Good to the Soul of Our Neighbor. Two Parts of Discipline,
Restraint and Instruction. Through Good Conduct We Arrive at the
Knowledge of the Truth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 64
Of the Authority of the Scriptures.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 65
The Church Apostrophised as Teacher of All Wisdom. Doctrine of the
Catholic Church.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 66
iv
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
The Life of the Anachoretes and Cœnobites Set Against the Continence
of the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 68
Praise of the Clergy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 70
Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities. Fasts of Three
Days.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 70
The Church is Not to Be Blamed for the Conduct of Bad Christians,
Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 72
Marriage and Property Allowed to the Baptized by the Apostles.. . . . . p. 73
On the Morals of the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 75
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 75
Argument.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 75
The Supreme Good is that Which is Possessed of Supreme
Existence.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 76
What Evil is. That Evil is that Which is Against Nature. In Allowing This,
the Manichæans Refute Themselves.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 76
If Evil is Defined as that Which is Hurtful, This Implies Another Refutation
of the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 77
The Difference Between What is Good in Itself and What is Good by
Participation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 78
If Evil is Defined to Be Corruption, This Completely Refutes the
Manichæan Heresy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 78
What Corruption Affects and What It is.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 79
The Goodness of God Prevents Corruption from Bringing Anything to
Non-Existence. The Difference Between Creating and Forming.. . . . . p. 79
Evil is Not a Substance, But a Disagreement Hostile to Substance.. . . . p. 80
The Manichæan Fictions About Things Good and Evil are Not Consistent
with Themselves.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 82
Three Moral Symbols Devised by the Manichæans for No Good.. . . . . p. 83
The Value of the Symbol of the Mouth Among the Manichæans, Who are
Found Guilty of Blaspheming God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 84
Manichæan Subterfuge.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 85
Actions to Be Judged of from Their Motive, Not from Externals.
Manichæan Abstinence to Be Tried by This Principle.. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 86
Three Good Reasons for Abstaining from Certain Kinds of Food.. . . . . p. 87
Why the Manichæans Prohibit the Use of Flesh.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 90
Disclosure of the Monstrous Tenets of the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . p. 91
Description of the Symbol of the Hands Among the Manichæans.. . . . . p. 96
Of the Symbol of the Breast, and of the Shameful Mysteries of the
Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 100
Crimes of the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 101
v
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
Disgraceful Conduct Discovered at Rome.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 103
On Two Souls, Against the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 104
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 104
By What Course of Reasoning the Error of the Manichæans Concerning
Two Souls, One of Which is Not from God, is Refuted. Every Soul,
Inasmuch as It is a Certain Life, Can Have Its Existence Only from God
the Source of Life.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 105
If the Light that is Perceived by Sense Has God for Its Author, as the
Manichæans Acknowledge, Much More The Soul Which is Perceived by
Intellect Alone.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 106
How It is Proved that Every Body Also is from God. That the Soul Which
is Called Evil by the Manichæans is Better Than Light.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 107
Even the Soul of a Fly is More Excellent Than the Light.. . . . . . . . . . p. 108
How Vicious Souls, However Worthy of Condemnation They May Be,
Excel the Light Which is Praiseworthy in Its Kind.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 108
Whether Even Vices Themselves as Objects of Intellectual Apprehension
are to Be Preferred to Light as an Object of Sense Perception, and are
to Be Attributed to God as Their Author. Vice of the Mind and Certain
Defects are Not Rightly to Be Counted Among Intelligible Things. Defects
Themselves Even If They Should Be Counted Among Intelligible Things
Should Never Be Put Before Sensible Things. If Light is Visible by God,
Much More is the Soul, Even If Vicious, Which in So Far as It Lives is an
Intelligible Thing. Passages of Scripture are Adduced by the Manichæans
to the Contrary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 109
How Evil Men are of God, and Not of God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 111
The Manichæans Inquire Whence is Evil and by This Question Think
They Have Triumphed. Let Them First Know, Which is Most Easy to Do,
that Nothing Can Live Without God. Consummate Evil Cannot Be Known
Except by the Knowledge of Consummate Good, Which is God.. . . . . p. 113
Augustin Deceived by Familiarity with the Manichæans, and by the
Succession of Victories Over Ignorant Christians Reported by Them.
The Manichæans are Likewise Easily Refuted from the Knowledge of Sin
and the Will.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 114
Sin is Only from the Will. His Own Life and Will Best Known to Each
Individual. What Will is.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 114
What Sin is.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 117
From the Definitions Given of Sin and Will, He Overthrows the Entire
Heresy of the Manichæans. Likewise from the Just Condemnation of
Evil Souls It Follows that They are Evil Not by Nature But by Will. That
Souls are Good By Nature, to Which the Pardon of Sins is Granted.. . . p. 117
vi
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
From Deliberation on the Evil and on the Good Part It Results that Two
Classes of Souls are Not to Be Held to. A Class of Souls Enticing to
Shameful Deeds Having Been Conceded, It Does Not Follow that These
are Evil by Nature, that the Others are Supreme Good.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 120
Again It is Shown from the Utility of Repenting that Souls are Not by
Nature Evil. So Sure a Demonstration is Not Contradicted Except from
the Habit of Erring.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 121
He Prays for His Friends Whom He Has Had as Associates in
Error.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 122
Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichæan.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 123
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 123
Disputation of the First Day.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 124
Disputation of the Second Day.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 131
Against the Epistle of Manichæus, Called Fundamental.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 138
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 138
To Heal Heretics is Better Than to Destroy Them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 139
Why the Manichæans Should Be More Gently Dealt with.. . . . . . . . . p. 140
Augustin Once a Manichæan.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 140
Proofs of the Catholic Faith.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 141
Against the Title of the Epistle of Manichæus.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 142
Why Manichæus Called Himself an Apostle of Christ.. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 143
In What Sense the Followers of Manichæus Believe Him to Be the Holy
Spirit.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 143
The Festival of the Birth-Day of Manichæus.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 144
When the Holy Spirit Was Sent.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 145
The Holy Spirit Twice Given.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 146
Manichæus Promises Truth, But Does Not Make Good His Word.. . . . . p. 147
The Wild Fancies of Manichæus. The Battle Before the Constitution of
the World.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 147
Two Opposite Substances. The Kingdom of Light. Manichæus Teaches
Uncertainties Instead of Certainties.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 148
Manichæus Promises the Knowledge of Undoubted Things, and Then
Demands Faith in Doubtful Things.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 149
The Doctrine of Manichæus Not Only Uncertain, But False. His Absurd
Fancy of a Land and Race of Darkness Bordering on the Holy Region
and the Substance of God. The Error, First of All, of Giving to the Nature
of God Limits and Borders, as If God Were a Material Substance, Having
Extension in Space.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 150
The Soul, Though Mutable, Has No Material Form. It is All Present in
Every Part of the Body.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 150
vii
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
The Memory Contains the Ideas of Places of the Greatest Size.. . . . . p. 151
The Understanding Judges of the Truth of Things, and of Its Own
Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 152
If the Mind Has No Material Extension, Much Less Has God.. . . . . . . p. 152
Refutation of the Absurd Idea of Two Territories.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 153
This Region of Light Must Be Material If It is Joined to the Region of
Darkness. The Shape of the Region of Darkness Joined to the Region
of Light.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 153
The Form of the Region of Light the Worse of the Two.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 154
The Anthropomorphites Not So Bad as the Manichæans.. . . . . . . . . p. 154
Of the Number of Natures in the Manichæan Fiction.. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 155
Omnipotence Creates Good Things Differing in Degree. In Every
Description Whatsoever of the Junction of the Two Regions There is
Either Impropriety or Absurdity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 156
The Manichæans are Reduced to the Choice of a Tortuous, or Curved,
or Straight Line of Junction. The Third Kind of Line Would Give Symmetry
and Beauty Suitable to Both Regions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 157
The Beauty of the Straight Line Might Be Taken from the Region of
Darkness Without Taking Anything from Its Substance. So Evil Neither
Takes from Nor Adds to the Substance of the Soul. The Straightness of
Its Side Would Be So Far a Good Bestowed on the Region of Darkness
by God the Creator.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 158
Manichæus Places Five Natures in the Region of Darkness.. . . . . . . p. 159
The Refutation of This Absurdity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 160
The Number of Good Things in Those Natures Which Manichæus Places
in the Region of Darkness.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 160
The Same Subject Continued.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 161
Manichæus Got the Arrangement of His Fanciful Notions from Visible
Objects.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 162
Every Nature, as Nature, is Good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 163
Nature Cannot Be Without Some Good. The Manichæans Dwell Upon
the Evils.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 164
Evil Alone is Corruption. Corruption is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature.
Corruption Implies Previous Good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 165
The Source of Evil or of Corruption of Good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 166
God Alone Perfectly Good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 167
Nature Made by God; Corruption Comes from Nothing.. . . . . . . . . . . p. 168
In What Sense Evils are from God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 168
Corruption Tends to Non-Existence.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 169
Corruption is by God’s Permission, and Comes from Us.. . . . . . . . . . p. 170
viii
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
Exhortation to the Chief Good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 170
Conclusion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 171
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 171
Title Page.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 171
Preface.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 172
Who Faustus was. Faustus’s object in writing the polemical treatise that
forms the basis of Augustin’s reply. Augustin’s remarks thereon.. . . . . p. 172
Faustus claims to believe the Gospel, yet refuses to accept the
genealogical tables on various grounds which Augustin seeks to set
aside.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 174
Faustus objects to the incarnation of God on the ground that the
evangelists are at variance with each other, and that incarnation is
unsuitable to deity. Augustin attempts to remove the critical and
theological difficulties.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 177
Faustus’s reasons for rejecting the Old Testament, and Augustin’s
animadversions thereon.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 180
Faustus claims that the Manichæans and not the Catholics are consistent
believers in the Gospel, and seeks to establish this claim by comparing
Manichæan and Catholic obedience to the precepts of the Gospel.
Augustin exposes the hypocrisy of the Manichæans and praises the
asceticism of Catholics.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 182
Faustus avows his disbelief in the Old Testament and his disregard of its
precepts, and accuses Catholics of inconsistency in neglecting its
ordinances, while claiming to accept it as authoritative. Augustin explains
the Catholic view of the relation of the Old Testament to the New.. . . . . p. 188
The genealogical question is again taken up and argued on both
sides.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 197
Faustus maintains that to hold to the Old Testament after the giving of
the New is putting new cloth on an old garment. Augustin further explains
the relation of the Old Testament to the New, and reproaches the
Manichæans with carnality.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 198
Faustus argues that if the apostles born under the old covenant could
lawfully depart from it, much more can he having been born a Gentile.
Augustin explains the relation of Jews and Gentiles alike to the
Gospel.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 200
Faustus insists that the Old Testament promises are radically different
from those of the New. Augustin admits a difference, but maintains that
the moral precepts are the same in both.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 201
ix
NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans Philip Schaff
and Against the Donatists
Faustus quotes passages to show that the Apostle Paul abandoned belief
in the incarnation, to which he earlier held. Augustin shows that the
apostle was consistent with himself in the utterances quoted.. . . . . . . p. 202
Faustus denies that the prophets predicted Christ. Augustin proves such
prediction from the New Testament, and expounds at length the principal
types of Christ in the Old Testament.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 210
Faustus asserts that even if the Old Testament could be shown to contain
predictions, it would be of interest only to the Jews, pagan literature
subserving the same purpose for Gentiles. Augustin shows the value of
prophesy for Gentiles and Jews alike.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 232
Faustus abhors Moses for the awful curse he has pronounced upon
Christ. Augustin expounds the Christian doctrine of the suffering Saviour
by comparing Old and New Testament passages.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 242
Faustus rejects the Old Testament because it leaves no room for Christ.
Christ the one Bridegroom suffices for His Bride the Church. Augustin
answers as well as he can, and reproves the Manichæans with
presumption in claiming to be the Bride of Christ.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 248
Faustus willing to believe not only that the Jewish but that all Gentile
prophets wrote of Christ, if it should be proved; but he would none the
less insist upon rejecting their superstitions. Augustin maintains that all
Moses wrote is of Christ, and that his writings must be either accepted
or rejected as a whole.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 259
Faustus rejects Christ’s declaration that He came not to destroy the law
and the prophets but to fulfill them, on the ground that it is found only in
Matthew, who was not present when the words purport to have been
spoken. Augustin rebukes the folly of refusing to believe Matthew and
yet believing Manichæus, and shows what the passage of scripture really
means.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 278
The relation of Christ to prophecy, continued.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 282
Faustus is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to
destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was
to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense. Augustin replies, and still
further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment.. . . . p. 285
Faustus repels the charge of sun-worship, and maintains that while the
Manichæans believe that God’s power dwells in the sun and his wisdom
in the moon, they yet worship one deity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
They are not a schism of the Gentiles, nor a sect. Augustin emphasizes
the charge of polytheism, and goes into an elaborate comparison of
Manichæan and pagan mythology.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 303
x
Description:About NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings Against the Manichaeans and Against the Donatists by Philip Schaff. NPNF1-04. Augustin: The Writings
