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celebrated generally with no interest, though to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, whom sometimes there were a few languid worship- also ye shall receive after not many days, pers, but no watchings, no prescription of any that is, at Pentecost. When they had come, unusual fast,—in a word, no special cere- they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at mony, while great honor is paid to your this tine manifest Thyself? And when will Bema, that is, the day on which Manichæus be the kingdom of Israel? And He said unto was killed, when you have a platform with fine steps, covered with precious cloth, placed conspicuously so as to face the votaries,-the reply was, that the day to observe was the day of the passion of him who really suffered, and that Christ, who was not born, but appeared to human eyes in an unreal semblance of flesh, only feigned suffering, without really bearing it. Is it not deplorable, that men who wish to be called Christians are afraid of a virgin's womb as likely to defile the truth, and yet are not afraid of falsehood? But to go back to the point, who that pays attention can help suspecting that the intention of Manichæus in denying Christ's being born of a woman, and having a human body, was that His passion, the time of which is now a great festival all-over the world, might not be observed by the believers in himself, so as to lessen the devotion of the solemn commemoration which he wished in honor of the day of his own death? For to us it was a great attraction in the feast of the Bema that it was held during Pascha, since we used all the more earnestly to desire that festal day [the Bema], that the other which was formerly most sweet had been withdrawn.

them, No one can know the time which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Behold you have here the Lord reminding His disciples of the promise of the Father, which they had heard from His mouth, of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let us now see when He was sent; for shortly after we read as follows: "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when the sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Are not all these which speak Galilæans? and how heard we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were As regards this, had I nothing else born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, to believe on the subject, I should rather look | and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Armenia, for the Paraclete as still to come, than allow and in Cappadocia, in Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, that He came in Manichæus. But seeing and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the regions that the advent of the Holy Spirit is narrated of Africa about Cyrene, and strangers of with perfect clearness in the Acts of the Rome, Jews, natives, Cretes, and Arabians, Apostles, where is the necessity of my so they heard them speak in their own tongues gratuitously running the risk of believing the wonderful works of God. And they were heretics? For in the Acts it is written as fol- all amazed, and were in doubt on account of lows: "The former treatise have we made, what had happened, saying, What meaneth O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both this? But others, mocking, said, These men to do and teach, in the day in which He are full of new wine. You see when the chose the apostles by the Holy Spirit, and Holy Spirit came. What more do you wish? commanded them to preach the gospel. By If the Scriptures are credible, should not I bethose to whom He showed Himself alive lieve most readily in these Acts, which have after His passion by many proofs in the day- the strongest testimony in their support, and time, He was seen forty days, teaching con- which have had the advantage of becoming cerning the kingdom of God. And how He generally known, and of being handed down conversed with them, and commanded them and of being publicly taught along with the that they should not depart from Jerusalem, gospel itself, which contains the promise of but wait for the promise of the Father, which, the Holy Spirit, which also we believe? On saith He, ye have heard of me. For John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall begin

CHAP. 9.—WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS SENT. 10. Perhaps you will say to me, When, then, did the Paraclete promised by the Lord

1 Acts i. 1-8.

2 Acts ii. 1-13.

reading, then, these Acts of the Apostles, which stand, as regards authority, on a level with the gospel, I find that not only was the Holy Spirit promised to these true apostles, but that He was also sent so manifestly, that no room was left for errors on this subject. CHAP. 10.-THE HOLY SPIRIT TWICE GIVEN. II. For the glorification of our Lord among men is His resurrection from the dead and

His ascension to heaven. For it is written in the Gospel according to John: "The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.' Now if the reason why He was not given was that Jesus was not yet glorified, He was given immediately on the glorification of Jesus. And since that glorification was twofold, as regards man and as regards God, twice also was the Holy Spirit given: once, when, after His resurrection from the dead, He breathed on the face of His disciples, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost;' "' and again, ten days after His ascension to heaven. This number ten signifies perfection; for to the number seven, which embraces all created things, is added the trinity of the Creator.3 On these things there is much pious and sober discourse among spiritual men. But I must keep to my point; for my business at present is not to teach you, which you might think presumptuous, but to take the part of an inquirer, and learn from you, as I tried to do for nine years without success. Now, therefore, I have a document to believe on the subject of the Holy Spirit's advent; and if you bid me not to believe this document, as your usual advice is not to believe ignorantly, without consideration, much less will I believe your documents. Away, then, with all books, and disclose the truth with logical clearness, so as to leave no doubt in my mind; or bring forward books where I shall find not an imperious demand for my belief, but a trustworthy statement of what I may learn, Perhaps you say this epistle is also of this character. Let me, then, no longer stop at the threshold: let us see the contents.

CHAP. II.

4

MANICHEUS PROMISES TRUTH, BUT DOES NOT MAKE GOOD HIS WORD.

12. "These," he says, "are wholesome

John vii. 39.

2 John xx. 22. 3 [This is, of course, fanciful; but is quite in accordance with the exegetical methods of the time.--A. H. N. N.J

4 [The Manichæans assumed the role of rationalists, and scorned the credulity of ordinary believers. Yet they required in their followers an amount of credulity which only persons of a peculiar turn of mind could furnish. The same thing applies to modern rationalistic anti-Christian systems. requires infinitely less credulity to believe in historical ChristianThe fact is, that it ity than to disbelieve in it.-A. H. N.]

words from the perennial and living fountain; and whoever shall have heard them, and shall have first believed them, and then shall have observed the truths they set forth, shall never suffer death, but shall enjoy eternal life in glory. For he is to be judged truly blessed who has been instructed in this divine knowledge, by which he is made free and shall abide in everlasting life." And this, as you see, is a promise of truth, but not the bestowal of it. And you yourselves can easily see that any errors whatever might be dressed up in this fashion, so as under cover of a showy exterior to steal in unawares into the These are pestiferous words from a poisonous Were he to say, minds of the ignorant. fountain; and whoever shall have heard them, and shall have first believed them, and then be restored to life, but shall suffer a woful have observed what they set forth, shall never death as a criminal: for assuredly he is to be pronounced miserable who falls into this infernal error, in which he will sink so as to abide in everlasting torments;-were he to say this, he would say the truth; but instead of gaining any readers for his book, he would excite the greatest aversion in the minds of all into whose hands the book might come. Let us then pass on to what follows; nor let us be deceived by words which may be used alike by good and bad, by learned and unlearned. What, then, comes next?

one.

66

13. May the peace," he says, "of the invisible God, and the knowledge of the truth, be with the holy and beloved brethren who both believe and also yield obedience to the divine precepts." Amen, say we. For the Prayer is a most amiable and commendable Only we must bear in mind that these words might be used by false teachers as well than this, all might safely read and embrace as by good ones. So, if he said nothing more it. Nor should I disapprove of what follows: "May also the right hand of light protect you, and deliver you from every hostile assault, and from the snares of the world." In fact, I have no fault to find with the beginning of this epistle, till we come to the main subject of it. For I wish not to spend time on minor points. Now, then, for this writer's plain statement of what is to be expected from him.

CHAP 12.-THE WILD FANCIES OF MANICHÆUS. THE BATTLE BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WORLD.

14. "Of that matter, "he says, "beloved brother of Patticus, of which you told me, of the birth of Adam and Eve, whether they saying that you desired to know the manner

The

were produced by a word or sprung from nat-"these two substances were divided. ter, I will answer you as is fit. For in va- empire of light was held by God the Father, rious writings and narratives we find different who is perpetual in holy origin, magnificent assertions made and different descriptions in virtue, true in His very nature, ever regiven by many authors. Now the real truth joicing in His own eternity, possessing in on the subject is unknown to all peoples, even Himself wisdom and the vital senses, by to those who have long and frequently treated which He also includes the twelve members of it. For had they arrived at a clear knowl. of His light, which are the plentiful reedge of the generation of Adam and Eve, sources of his kingdom. Also in each of His they would not have remained liable to cor- members are stored thousands of untold and ruption and death." Here, then, is a promise | priceless treasures. But the Father Himself, to us of clear knowledge of this matter, so that chief in praise, incomprehensible in greatness, we shall not be liable to corruption and death. has united to Himself happy and glorious And if this does not suffice, see what follows: worlds, incalculable in number and duration, "Necessarily," he says, "many things have along with which this holy and illustrious to be said by way of preface, before a dis- Father and Progenitor resides, no poverty or covery of this mystery free from all uncer- infirmity being admitted in His magnificent tainty can be made. This is precisely what realms. And these matchless realms are so I asked for, to have such evidence of the truth founded on the region of light and bliss, that as to free my knowledge of it from all uncer- no one can ever move or disturb them." tainty. And even were the promise not made by this writer himself, it was proper for me to demand and to insist upon this, so that no opposition should make me ashamed of becoming a Manichæan from a Catholic Christian, in view of such a gain as that of perfectly clear and certain truth. Now, then, let us hear what he has to state.

CHAP. 14.

-MANICHÆUS PROMISES THE KNOWLEDGE OF UNDOUBTED THINGS, AND THEN DEMANDS FAITH IN DOUBTFUL THINGS.

17. Where is the proof of all this? And where did Manichæus learn it? Do not frighten me with the name of the Paraclete. For, in the first place, I have come not to put faith in unknown things, but to get the knowledge of undoubted truths, according to the caution enjoined on me by yourselves. For you know how bitterly you taunt those 15. "Accordingly," he says, "hear first, if who believe without consideration. And you please, what happened before the con- what is more, this writer, who here begins stitution of the world, and how the battle to tell of very doubtful things, himself promwas carried on, that you may be able to dis-ised a little before to give complete and welltinguish the nature of light from that of dark- grounded knowledge. ness." Such are the utterly false and incredible statements which this writer makes. Who can believe that any battle was fought before the constitution of the world? And even supposing it credible, we wish now to get something to know, not to believe. For to In the next place, if faith is what is resay that the Persians and Scythians long ago quired of me, I should prefer to keep to the fought with one another is a credible state- Scripture, which tells me that the Holy ment; but while we believe it when we Spirit came and inspired the apostles, to read or hear it, we cannot know it as a fact whom the Lord had promised to send Him. of experience or as a truth of the understandYou must therefore prove, either that what ing. So, then, as I would repudiate any such Manichæus says is true, and so make clear statement on the ground that I have been to me what I am unable to believe; or that promised something, not that I must believe Manichæus is the Holy Spirit, and so lead on authority, but that I shall understand me to believe in what you cannot make clear. without any ambiguity; still less will I receive For I profess the Catholic faith, statements which are not only uncertain, but and by it I expect to attain certain knowlincredible. But what if he have some evi- edge. Since, then, you try to overthrow dence to make these things clear and intelli- my faith, you must supply me with certain gible? Let us hear, then, if we can, what knowledge, if you can, that you may convict follows with all possible patience and forbear- me of having adopted my present belief without consideration. You make two distinct propositions, one when you say that the speaker is the Holy Spirit, and another when you say that what the speaker teaches is

ance.

CHAP. 13.-TWO OPPOSITE SUBSTANCES. THE
KINGDOM OF LIGHT. MANICHÆUS TEACHES

UNCERTAINTIES INSTEAD OF CERTAINTIES.

[Compare the fuller account from the Fihrist in the Introduc

16. "In the beginning, then,' he says, tion.-A. H. N.J

evidently true. I might fairly ask undeniable truths, and then demanding faith in doubtful proof for both propositions. But I am not things. And then, if he is asked to make it greedy and require to be convinced only plain that these things have been proved to of one. Prove this person to be the Holy himself, he fails again, and bids us believe Spirit, and I will believe what he says to this too. Who can tolerate such imposture be true, even without understanding it; or and arrogance?

prove that what he says is true, and I will

NOT ONLY UNCERTAIN, BUT FALSE. HIS AB-
SURD FANCY OF A LAND AND RACE OF DARK-
NESS 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.

19. What if I shall have shown, with the help of God and of our Lord, that this writer's

believe him to be the Holy Spirit, even CHAP. 15.-THE DOCTRINE OF MANICHÆUS without evidence. Could anything be fairer or kinder than this? But you cannot prove either one or other of these propositions. You can find nothing better than to praise your own faith and ridicule mine. So, after having in my turn praised my belief and ridiculed yours, what result do you think we shall arrive at as regards our judgment and our conduct, but to part company with those who promise the knowledge of indubistatements are false as well as uncertain? What table things, and then demand from us faith more unfortunate thing can be found than that in doubtful things? while we shall follow superstition which not only fails to impart the those who invite us to begin with believing what we cannot yet fully perceive, that, strengthened by this very faith, we may come into a position to know what we believe by the inward illumination and confirmation of our minds, due no longer to men, but to God

Himself.

18. And as I have asked this writer to

knowledge and the truth which it promises, but also teaches what is directly opposed to knowledge and truth? This will appear more clearly from what follows: "In one direction on the border of this bright and holy land there was a land of darkness deep and vast in extent, where abode fiery bodies, destructive races. Here was boundless darkness, prove these things to me, I ask him now flowing from the same source in immeasurable where he learned them himself. If he replies abundance, with the productions properly bethat they were revealed to him by the Holy longing to it. Beyond this were muddy turSpirit, and that his mind was divinely enlight- bid waters with their inhabitants; and inside ened that he might know them to be certain of them winds terrible and violent with their and evident, he himself points to the distinc-prince and their progenitors. Then again a tion between knowing and believing. The fiery region of destruction, with its chiefs and knowledge is his to whom these things are peoples. And similarly inside of this a race fully made known as proved; but in the case full of smoke and gloom, where abode the of those who only hear his account of these dreadful prince and chief of all, having around things, there is no knowledge imparted, but him innumerable princes, himself the mind only a believing acquiescence required. Who- and source of them all. Such are the five ever thoughtlessly yields this becomes a Mannatures of the pestiferous land." ichæan, not by knowing undoubted truth, but 20. To speak of God as an aerial or even by believing doubtful statements. Such were as an ethereal body is absurd in the view of we when in our inexperienced youth we were all who, with a clear mind, possessing some deceived. Instead, therefore, of promising measure of discernment, can perceive the naknowledge, or clear evidence, or the settle-ture of wisdom. and truth as not extended or ment of the question free from all uncertainty, Manichæus ought to have said that these things were clearly proved to him, but that those who hear his account of them must believe him without evidence. But were he to

say this, who would not reply to him, If I must believe without knowing, why should I not prefer to believe those things which have a wide-spread notoriety from the consent of learned and unlearned, and which among all nations are established by the weightiest authority? From fear of having this said to him, Manichæus bewilders the inexperienced

scattered in space, but as great, and imparting greatness without material size, nor confined more or less in any direction, but throughout co-extensive with the Father of all, nor having one thing here and another there, but everywhere perfect, everywhere present.'

CHAP. 16.

I

-THE SOUL, THOUGH MUTABLE, HAS NO MATERIAL FORM. IT IS ALL PRESENT IN EVERY PART OF THE BODY.

But why speak of truth and wisdom which

1 [This exalted view of God Augustin held in common with the

by first promising the knowledge of certain Neo-Platonists.-A. H. N.]

out leaving one in order to be in the other, and without having one part in one, and another in the other; but by this power showing itself to be all present at the same moment in separate places. Since it is all present in the sensations of these places, it proves that it is not bound by the conditions of space.'

CHAP. 17.-THE MEMORY CONTAINS THE IDEAS

OF PLACES OF THE GREATEST SIZE.

surpass all the powers of the soul, when the nature of the soul itself, which is known to be mutable, still has no kind of material extension in space? For whatever consists of any kind of gross matter must necessarily be divisible into parts, having one in one place, and another in another. Thus, the finger is 'less than the whole hand, and one finger is less than two; and there is one place for this finger, and another for that, and another for the rest of the hand. And this applies not to Again, if we consider the mind's power of organized bodies only, but also to the earth, remembering not the objects of the intellect, each part of which has its own place, so that but material objects, such as we see brutes one cannot be where the other is. So in also remembering (for cattle find their way moisture, the smaller quantity occupies a without mistake in familiar places, and anismaller space, and the larger quantity a larger mals return to their cribs, and dogs recognize space; and one part is at the bottom of the the persons of their masters, and when asleep cup, and another part near the mouth. So in they often growl, or break out into a bark, air, each part has its own place; and it is im- which could not be unless their mind retained possible for the air in this house to have along the images of things before seen or perceived with itself, in the same house at the same by some bodily sense), who can conceive moment, the air that the neighbors have. rightly where these images are contained, And even as regards light itself, one part where they are kept, or where they are formed? pours through one window, and another If, indeed, these images were no larger than through another; and a greater through the the size of our body, it might be said that the larger, and a smaller through the smaller. mind shapes and retains them in the bodily Nor, in fact, can there be any bodily sub- space which contains itself. But while the stance, whether celestial or terrestrial, whether body occupies a small material space, the mind aerial or moist, which is not less in part than revolves images of vast extent, of heaven and in whole, or which can possibly have one part earth, with no want of room, though they in the place of another at the same time; but, come and go in crowds; so that clearly, the having one thing in one place and another in mind is not diffused through space: for inanother, its extension in space is a substance stead of being contained in images of the which has distinct limits and parts, or, so to largest spaces, it rather contains them; not, speak, sections. The nature of the soul, on the however, in any material receptacle, but by a other hand, though we leave out of account its mysterious faculty or power, by which it can power of perceiving truth, and consider only increase or diminish them, can contract them its inferior power of giving unity to the body, within narrow limits, or expand them indefiand of sensation in the body, does not ap-nitely, can arrange or disarrange them at pear to have any material extension in space. pleasure, can multiply them or reduce them For it is all present in each separate part of to a few or to one.

its body when it is all present in any sensa

-

THE TRUTH OF THINGS, AND OF ITS OWN
ACTION.

What, then, must be said of the power of perceiving truth, and of making a vigorous resistance against these very images which take their shape from impressions on the bodily senses, when they are opposed to the truth? This power discerns the difference between, to take a particular example, the true Carthage and its own imaginary one, which it changes as it pleases with perfect ease.

tion. There is not a smaller part in the fin- CHAP. 18. THE UNDERSTANDING JUDGES OF ger, and a larger in the arm, as the bulk of the finger is less than that of the arm; but the quantity everywhere is the same, for the whole is present everywhere. For when the finger is touched, the whole mind feels, though the sensation is not through the whole body. No part of the mind is unconscious of the touch, which proves the presence of the whole. And yet it is not so present in the finger or in the sensation as to abandon the rest of the body, or to gather itself up into the one place where the sensation occurs. For when it is all present in the sensation in a finger, if another part, say the foot, be touched, it does not fail to be all present in this sensation too: so that at the same moment it is all present in different places, with

It

1 [Modern mental physiologists differ among themselves as regards the presence of the mind throughout the entire nervous system; some maintaining the view here presented, and others making the brain to be the seat of sensation, and the nerves telegraphic lines, so to speak, for the communication of impressions from the various Physiology, and CALDERWOOD: Mind and Brain. -A. H. N.] parts of the body to the brain. Compare CARPENTER: Mental

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