Lecture VI

LECTURE VI.

ON THE UNITY OF GOD*.

IsataH xlv. 16, 17.

They shall go to confusion together that are parlakers of tdols; but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlusting salvation, ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. ge 1. Briessep be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ; and blessed also be His only-begotten Son. For in the Sr idea of God, let the idea of Father be included; that glory may be ascribed indivisibly to Father and Son with the Holy

Ghost.

For there is not one glory to Father, and another to Son, but one and the same with the Holy Ghost.

Since the Son is the Only-begotten of the Father, and when the Father receives, the Son shares the glory; for the Son's glory is from His Fathers honour: and again, when the Son is glorified, the Father of that infinitely good Gift is honoured mightily.

2. Now, though the motions of the intellect are most rapid, yet the tongue requires words, and the medium of discussion drawn out at fulllength.

For the eye takes in at oncea great company of stars; but if one wishes to tell of each in particular, which is the morning star, and which the evening, and so of each single star, there is need of many words.

In like manner, the mind in the shortest moment of time compasses earth and sea, and all the bounds of the world; but that which is thought of in an instant, takes many words to express.

Yet forcible as is the instance I have given, still it is after all weak and inadequate.

For we speak, not what we ought concerning God, (for to Him only is this known,) but what man's nature can, and our weakness is equal to.

For we explain not what God is; but we honestly confess that ® Meg) Oued ag, i.e. that Godis ence er, authori the nit miaeigh eof all things, of existDA atite

2A as

Immensity of God contrasted with man's liltleness.

we have no exact knowledge of Him; for on the subject of God, it is great knowledge to confess our want of knowledge'.

Magnify, then, the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name Ps. 34, together.

All of us jointly; for one is unequal to it; yea*: rather, though all of us united, we should not even then do it adequately; not only not you who are present, but not even if all the nurslings of all the universal Church, present and to come, should meet together, could they, worthily, sing the praises of the Shepherd.

3. Abraham was great and honourable,—but great in com- (2.) parison of men; but when he drew nigh to God, then honestly avowing the truth, he saith, J am earth and ashes.

He said Gen. 18, not, '* Earth" only, and then was silent, lest be should call?" himself by the name of that mighty element: but he added,

"and ashes;" that he might represent his mouldering and frail nature. "Is there, saith he, any thing smaller or lighter than ashes?"

Take, he saith, the comparison of ashes with a house, of a house with a city, of a city with a province, of a province with the Roman empire, of the Roman empire with all the earth, and all its bounds; then compare all the earth with the embosoming heaven, the earth, which holds such proportion to the heaven, as the centre of the wheel to all its circumference, (for such is the proportion between earth and heaven ;)—think then that this first heaven which we see, is smaller than the second, and the second than the third, (for thus far hath Scripture named them, not that they are so many only, but so many only was it expedient for us to know,)—and when thou hast in thought surveyed all the heavens, yet not even shall the heavens be able to praise God according to what He is, no, not though they should resound with a voice louder than thunder. But if the spheres of heaven, being so many, cannot worthily sing God's praise, how shall earth and ashes, that least and smallest of things existing, succeed in sending up a worthy song to God, or worthily to speak of God, that silteth upon the circle of the earth, and Is. 40, the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.

4. If any take in hand to speak concerning God, first let (g.) him declare the bounds of the earth.

Thou dwellest on the » Vid. Hooker, Eccles, Pol. i.2.§.2. of man," &c.

'¢ Dangerous it were for the feeble brain

God ts incomprehensible.

Lecr. earth, and knowest not the limit of the earth which is thy dwelling; how then wilt thou be able worthily to think of its

Creator?

Thou beholdest the stars, but their Maker thou beholdest not: count the stars, which are seen, and then set

Pe. 147, forth Him who is not seen; Who telleth the number of. the stars, and calleth them all by their names! The pouring rains, which lately came down on us, well nigh destroyed us: number the drops which fell in this city only; nay, on thine own house in one hour, if thou canst; but thou canst not.

Know thou thine own weakness; and thence know the power Job 36, of God; for by Him are numbered the drops of rain, which 27-Sept: have been poured down on the whole earth, not only now, but ever.

The sun is the workmanship of God, great indeed, yet but a spot in comparison of the whole of heaven; first gaze stedfastly on the sun, and then curiously scan his Lord. eee Seek not that which is deeper than thou, and that which ta

"" stronger than thou search not out; but what is appointed thee, that consider.

(4.) 5. But some one will say, If the Divine Nature is incomprehensible, why then dost thou discourse concerning these things?

Shall I then, since I cannot drink up all the river, not take in due measure even what is expedient for me?

Because I cannot sustain with these eyes of mine the whole sun, shall I not behold even as much of him as suffices for my wants? or, when I have entered into a great park, because

I cannot eat all the fruits, wouldest thou have me depart actually hungry?

I praise and glorify Him who hath made Pe. 150,us: for it is a Divine call which says, Let every thing that kath breath praise the Lord.

I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, not to declare Him; knowing indeed right well that I must fall short of worthily glorifying Him, but deeming it a work of godliness even to attempt it at all. For the Lord

. ohn 1, Jesus encourages my infirmity, saying, No one hath seen God "at any lime.

G. What then, some one will say, means the text, The Mat. 18, Angels of the little ones always behold the face of My Father which ts in heaven.

Yes, but the Angels behold, not according to what God is, but as they are able.

For it is Jesus John 6, Himself who saith, Not that any hath seen the Father, save

He which is of God: He hath seen the Father. The Angels

God's perfections.

then behold as they can bear, and the Archangels as they are able; and Thrones and Dominions, though more fully than these, yet less than God's excellency.

But only the Holy Ghost, together with the Son, can bebold Him wortbily: for the Spirit searcheth all things, and knoweth even the deep \ Cor. things of God.

For as the Only-begotten Son, together with" ?° the Holy Ghost, fully knoweth the Father, (for neither Mat.i1, knoweth any one the Father, saith He, save the Son, and he?" to thomsoever the Son will reveal Him,) so while He beholdeth fully, He, with and through the Holy Ghost, revealeth

God, according as each can bear: since the Only-begotten Son together with the Holy Ghost is a partaker of the Father's Godhead.

He, who without passion was begotten a eet before the world began, knoweth Him who begat; and He whoys,, begat knoweth Him who was begotten.

When even Angels 2Tim.1, then are ignorant, (for to each according to his own capacity

° doth the Only-hegotten reveal Him through and with the Holy Ghost, as we have said,) let none of men be ashamed to own hisignorance.

I am now speaking, as all do in place: but how we speak, we cannot tell: how then can

I declare Him who hath given us the gift of speech?

I who have a eoul, yet cannot tell its lineaments; how then shall I be equal to describe its Giver?

7. It suffices us for devotion, to know that we have a (5,) God; a God who is One, a God who is, is always; always like unto Himself; and has no Father, none mightier than

Himself, no successor to dispossess Him of His kingdom: manifold in name, all-powerful, in substance uniform.

For pevedi though He is called Good, and Just, and Almighty, and *# é<%Sabaoth*, He is not therefore distinct and various; but being

Himself one and the same, He dispenses the countless operations of the Godhead, not abounding here and deficient there, but being in all things like unto Himself.

Not great in loving-kindness gnly, and little in wisdom, but with wisdom and loving-kindness in equal measure; not seeing here, and not seeing there; but being all eye, and all ear, and all mind; not as we, perceiving here, and ignorant there; for G hiss sometimes takes fo antiauiiy Apoth. v.837. Est impossibile Deane absolutely as a name of God, conside profanda Sabacth, i.e. Dei. az Lord of Angels.

Vid. Prodentios, ned

God is'a Spirit, and all in all. els this is blasphemy, and unworthy of the Divine substance.

= 7 He foreknows events; He is Holy, and Almighty, and kinder, vw; greater, and wiser than all; and is unspeakable as to His

Jobn 5, beginning, and form, and nature.

Ye have neither heard His a voice at any time, nor seen His shape, says holy Scripture; pe 4,and therefore Moses says to the Israelites, Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves ; for ye saw no manner of similstude: for if His outward appearance is utterly incapablé of éwerrédelineation, much less is His substance unimaginable.

(6.) 8. Many and by many have been the delineations, but all "have failed. Some men have thought that God is fire; others that He is like a man, but winged, because of a true text, ill

Ps.17,8. understood, Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings.

They forget that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten, said tet likewise concerning Himself to Jerusalem, How often would

I have gathered thy children together, even us a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.

For His guardian power being taken as wings, these men, not understanding, and grovelling among human things, conceived of the Unsearchable in a human way.

And others have dared to say, that He has seven eyes, because it is written, Zech. 4, The seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth.

For if He has but seven eyes round about Him, here and there, then His sight too is here and there, and not all-perfect: which is blasphemy. God is to be accounted perfect in all things, according to the Saviour's saying,

Matt.5, Your Father which ts in heaven is perfect: perfect in sight, perfect in power, perfect in greatness, perfect in foreknowledge, perfect in goodness, perfect in righteousness, perfect in loving-kindness.

Not limited by place, but the Maker of all place: who is in all, and is circumscribed by none.

Is. 66,1. Heaven is His throne, but He who is seated on it reaches far above it: Earth is His footstool, but His power extends to the realms beneath the earth.

© 9. One there is, all-present, all-seeing, all-understanding, John 1, creating all through Christ: for all things were made by S Him, and without Him was not a thing made; a fount of all good, a fount immense and inexhaustible, a river of blessings, Light eternal beaming inexhaustibly, Power irresistible, condescending to our infirmities: whose very Name

Degraded worship of the heathen.

is too awful to hear.

Wilt thou jfind the footstep of the Job ii, Lord, saith Job, or hast thou attuined unto the least things ™ 5°Pwhich the Almighty hath made?

If the last of His works cannot be comprehended, shall He be comprehended who made all things?

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,\ Cor. neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which* *

God hath prepared for them that love Him.

If those things which God hath prepared are to our minds incomprehensible, can we in thought comprehend Him their preparer?

O the Rom. depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 5 God! how unsearchable are His judgmenis, and His ways past finding vut!/ says the Apostle: if His judgments and ways are unattainable, shall He Himself be attained ?

10. Though God is so great, yea, and greater—(for though (7.) the whole of me became tongue, it could not speak adequately, rather, noteven all Angels joined together would suffice,) though

I say, the Great and Good God is such, yet did man grave a stone, and dare tosay to it, Thou art my God! O great blindness, Is. 44, from such greatness descending to such abjectness! The tree

""* which God has planted, and the rain increased, and which then is burnt to ashes, this forsooth is named God; but the true

God is made light of.

The wickedness of idolatry wrought lavishly; and cat, dog, wolf, were worshipped instead of God.

The lion who devours man was worshipped for God who tenderly loves him; serpent and dragon, counterparts of him who cast us out of Paradise, were worshipped; He who planted Paradise, was thought lightly of.

Nay, I feel shame while I say it, even onions have been before now worshipped.

Wine was given, to make glad the heart of man; and BacPs. 104, chus was worshipped in the place of God: God made corn" by saying, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding Gea. 1, seed after its kind, that bread might strengthen man's heart; Patio " whence then was Ceres worshipped? fire even to this day is to. struck out from stones by collision; whence then Vulcan, the maker of fire?

11. Whence the Greek false doctrine of many gods? God is incorporeal; whence then the adulteries, which are charged upon their so called gods? I will be silent of the changes of Jupiter into a swan: I am ashamed to speak of his transformations into a bull; as if lowings were worthy of a god.

The Manichees held two first principles, good and evil.

Lect. The god of the Greeks is convicted of adultery, yet are they not ashamed: but if he is an adulterer, let him not be called god.

They tell too of deaths among their gods, and expulsions, and blastings by thunder; seest thou how high they were and now how fallen?

Surely it was not for nought that the Son of God came down from heaven, when it was to heal so great a wound; it was not for nought the Son came, that the Father might be acknowledged.

Thou hast learned, what moved the Only-begotten to come down from the throne on God's right hand.

The Father was despised; it behoved the Son to set right this departure; for it behoved Him by whom all things were made, to bring all things near unto the Lord of all.

The wound had to be cured; for what was worse than such a sickness, the worshipping a stone for God? ee —S EP.

ED Of Heresies.

12. And not only among the Gentiles hath the Devil waged this contest; but many falsely called Christians, wrongfully designated by the sweet name of Christ, have been impious enough to dare separate God from His own works.

I mean await the tribe of heretics, men of evil name and utter un- + slegodliness, in pretence lovers of Christ, but altogether His

(8.) enemies: for he who blasphemes Christ's Father, is an enemy of the Son.

These men" have dared to say that there are two godheads, one good, and one evil. Exceeding blindness!

If a Godhead then, must it not be altogether good? but if not good, why called Godhead? for goodness belongs to God.

For since there belongeth to God, loving-kindness, beneficence, omnipotence, let them do one of two things; let them call Him God in operation as well as in name; or if they mean to deprive Him of His operative power, let them not give Him the bare name.

18. Heretics have dared to say, that there are two Gods, a source of good, and a source of evil, and that both these are unoriginate.

If both are unoriginate, certainly they must be equal also, and both mighty ; how then doth the light destroy the darkness?

Again, are they ever together, or are they separate? Together they cannot be, for what fellowship hath light with darkness, saith the Apostle; but if they are far

2 Cor.

6, 14.

» i, e. The Manichees.

Arguments against this doctrine.

one from another, doubtless each has his own place, and if so, doubtless we are in the realms of one God: doubtless also we worship one God.

Thus the argument holds for the worship of one God, even granting their absurd doctrine.

Next let us examine what they say of the good God.

Is He powerful, or powerless?

If powerful, how came evil, against His will? and how does the evil substance introduce itself, without His consent?

If He knows, but cannot hinder, they impute to Him want of power; but unfaithfulness, if He is able, yet hinders it not. And consider their inconsistency ; at one time they say, that as to the world's creation the evil God has nothing in common with the good God: at another time, only the fourth part.

And they say that the good God is the 'Father of Christ; yet they call the sun, Christ.

If then the world, according to them, was made by the evil God, and the sun is in the world; how is the Son of the good God an unwilling minister in the works of the evil God?

It is to touch mire even to say these things; but I say them, lest any here present from not knowing better fall into heretical mire themselves.

I know that I am polluting my own mouth, and your ears: but it is expedient; fitter much that you should hear these monstrous things charged against third persons, than out of ignorance fall into them: that thou shouldest know the mire and hate it, than know it not and fall into it.

Heretical impiety is a way with many branches; when a man once strays from the one direct road, he often gets into precipitous ground.

14. And of all heresy Simon Magus was the originator,— (9,) Simon who in the Acts of the Apostles, expected to purchase with money the unpurchaseable gift of the Spirit, and who heard these words, Thou hast neither part nor lot tn this Acts 8, matter, and the rest;—of whom it is written, They went out) 5.

Srom us, but they were not of us; for if they had been Of us, 2, 19. they would no doubt have continued with us.

Having come to Rome, after he had been cast out by the Apostles, and gaining over a profligate woman called Helena, he commenced by daring with blasphemous lips to say, that he had appeared as the Father on Mount Sinai; that afterward among the Jews, he had shewn himself as Christ, not in the flesh, but in appearers ance: and after this as the Holy Ghost, of whom Christ had

History and heresy of Simon Magus, of Marcion, Lect. promised, that He should be sent as the Comforter.

And he I. _4o deceived the Roman state, that Claudius set up a statue of him, writing under it in the Roman tongue, Simont Deo

Sancto: which being interpreted is, "To Simon the Holy God*'."

15. The error spreading, that goodly pair, Peter and Paul, 'the rulers of the Church, being present, set matters right

'again; and on Simon the supposed God, attempting a display, they straightway laid him dead.

Simon, that is, promised that he should be raised aloft towards heaven, and accordingly was borne through the air on a chariot of De~mons; on which the servants of God falling on their knees, gave an instance of that agreement, of which Jesus said, Jf

Mai. 18, two of you shall agree as touching any thing that they shall 9% ask, it shall be done for them: and reaching the sorcerer with this unanimity of their prayer, they precipitated him to the earth.

For is this strange, though it be strange? for Mat.16,it was Peter, he who bears with him the keys of heaven: oes it astonishing? for it was Paul, he who was caught up into 12, 2.4.¢he third Heaven, and into paradise, and who heard unspeakable words, which tt is not lawful for a man to utter.

It was these, I say, who precipitated from air to earth the supposed God, on his journey to the place under the earth.

He then was the first serpent of evil: but though one head had been cut off, the root of evil turned out many-headed.

(10.) 16. Cerinthus wasted the Church, and Menander, and Carpocrates: and the Ebionites, and Marcion, a very mouthpiece of ungodliness; for one who teaches different Gods, one

John17, good, the other just, contradicts the Son, who says, Righteous oa Father.

Again, one who says that the Father is different from the Maker of the world, is at variance with the Son who Lakel3, says, If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the Met Jield, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; and Who maketh

' His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

This Marcion, then, came * This account originates in Justin Deo Sacrum. Sex. Pompeius&c.

SanM the island of the Tiber. A doubt, however, is cast on it, from a stone having been dug up in this very island in the Pontificate of Gregory

XIIJ, A.D. 1585,

with this inscription, Semoni Sango , Who says he saw the statue in gus or Sancus was a Sabine God. vid.

Lact. i. 15, Aust. de Civ. D. xviii, 19.

That Simon was struck dead at Rome by St. Peter is confirmed by the cautious Eusebius, but the details of the occurrence are not certain.

and of Valentinus.

next, the originator of another error; for being refuted by the text from the Old Testament which are cited in the New, he who bad already effaced the idea of God, was the first to venture also on cutting out those very testimonies to the word of faith preached in the Gospel; and to consent to weaken the Church's faith, as though there had been no heralds of it.

17. Next came Basilides, of evil fame, plausible in his bearing, and a preacher of profligacy.

Valentinus aided the (11.) wretched cause, with his announcement of thirty Gods. The Greeks tell of few: but this man, in name though not in truth a Christian, carried on their fiction to a whole thirty'.

And he says that Bythus, the Abyss, begat Silence; (for it became 'him who is the abyss of wickedness, to begin his doctrine from the Abyss;) and that of Silence he begat the Word. —

This Bythus is worse than the Jupiter of the Greeks, who was married to his sister: for Silence was said to be the child of Bythus.

What a monstrous doctrine to be cloked under the pretence of Christianity! but wait awhile, and thou shalt hate the impious creed.

He says that of him were begotten eight Zions, or Ages: and of them, ten more: and of them, other twelve, male and female.

And what is the proof of all this? their arguments are as absurd as their creed; how dost thou demonstrate the thirty Hons? because, says he, it is written, that Jesus was baptized, being thirty years old: Lake 3, granting the fact, what a demonstration is this? He broke ™ five loaves among five thousand; are there therefore five

Gods? or because He had twelve disciples, must there be twelve ?

18. Even this however is little compared with the impious things which follow: he says, that the last of the Gods is both male and female; (thus he dares to speak, ) and that this is Wisdom: what blasphemy! for Christ is the Wisdom of} or God, His only-begotten Son: and yet his doctrine degraded the '

'Wisdom of God to a female nature, and a thirtieth principle, and the last creation.

And he says, that Wisdom attempted to behold the first God; but that, not bearing his brightness, she fell from heaven, and forfeited the thirtieth place; that 8 Licet Gentiles duodecim Deos upduos onas colant quos appellant Deos. pellent, isti [Valentiniani) triginti et Ambros. Ep. xl. 16, ap.

Bened.

History of Manichetsm.

Lact. then as she groaned, her groans begat the devil: and while i she wept her downfal, she gave being to the sea.

What blasphemy! as if the devil could be born from Wisdom, and evil from understanding, or from light, darkness?

And he says, that the devil begat others, some of whom framed the world; and that the Christ came down, to make men revolt from the Maker of the World.

19. Now listen, whom they say that Christ Jesus is: that thou mayest hate them still more.

They teach then, that when Wisdom was cast out, in order that the number of the thirty might not be incomplete, the nine and twenty ons each contributed some little element, and formed the Christ: and him again, as they say, both male and female.

Can there be aught more blasphemous, aught more miserable than this?

I go through their heresy, to make you hate them more. ph Flee then such blasphemy, nor did such an one God speed,

Eph, 5, lest thou have Sellowship with the unfruitful works of darknese.

And be not curious about them, nor seek to converse with them.

(12.) 20. Thou must hate all heretics, but especially him who even in name is a Maniac; who arose lately under the Emperor Probus: (for the error is just seventy years standing,) and there are to this day men who have seen him with their own eyes.

But hate him not for this, that he is of recent date; but because of his impious doctrines, hate thou this worker of evil, this reservoir of all pollution, who hath taken on him the filth of every heresy. For being ambitious of distinction among the bad, he took the doctrines of all, and having framed one heresy filled with blasphemies, and with all wickedness, he devastates the Church, (or rather those without it,) like a lion ranging about, and devouring.

Heed not thou their fair speeches, nor their supposed fumility: for they are serpents, the offspring of vipers. Judas too said, Hail Master, and betrayed Him: heed not that they kiss, but guard against their venom.

21. Lest I seem to bring these charges without grounds, I will go out of the way to say who this Manes is, and to a certain point what he teaches ; as to giving a full account of his foul teaching, no time would be long enough.

It will gerve as an aid in season, to lay up in thy memory what ]

Scythianus, Terebinthus or Buddas.

have said on other occasions and shall repeat now, with the view of informing the ignorant and reminding the informed.

Manes did not rise from the Christian body ; God forbid! nor like Simon was he cast out of the Church, neither he, nor those who taught before him, for he is a pilferer and appropriator of other men's sins ;—but how, and after what manner, ye must hear.

22. There was in Egypt acertain Scythianus, a Saracen * by race, without any thing in common either with Judaism, or with Christianity.

This man, who dwelt at Alexandria, as an Aristotelian, composed four books: one called the Gospel, yet not an account of the acts of Christ, though bearing this title; and another called the Book ot Chapters; and a third called the Book of Mysteries; and a fourth, which (18.) they now use, called the Treasure.

This man had a disciple, Terebinthus by name; as for Scythianus himself he passed into Judea, and while he was engaged in infecting that country, the Lord took him off by a sickness, and stopped the plague.

23. Terebinthus, his disciple in wicked error, was heir of his gold, his books, and his heresy: he made his appearance in Palestine; but on being recognised and condemned in Judza, he resolved to pass into Persia; and to prevent a second recognition from his name, he changed it to Buddas.

But there he found opponents, the ministers of Mithras: and being subjected to a series of defeats in discussion and controversy, at last hard pressed, he betakes himself to a certain widow.

Then having gone up to the top of the house, and invoked the Demons of the air, whom the Manichzans to this day invoke upon their detestable ceremony of the fig ', he was stricken of God, fell headlong from the*house, and gave up the ghost: and thus the second monster was cut off.

24, The books, however, the records of impiety, remained ; and these and the property the widow inherited. And whereas she had neither kinsman, nor any one else, she determined out of the money to purchase a boy, named Cubricus: and having adopted him, she brought him up as a son in the © The Saracens are first mentioned Euseb. Hist. vi. 42. by Dionysius of Alexandria, apud ' Vid. infra, §. 33.

72 Oubricus or Manes, fails to cure the Persian King's son.

Lxcr. learning of the Persians, and thus sharpened an evil weapon - against mankind.

So Cubricus, her wicked servant, grew up in the midst of philosophers; and on her death, inherited the books, and the money. Then, lest the name of slavery should be a reproach to him, he called himself instead of Cubricus,

Manes, which in the Persian language means, discourse: for since a disputant seemed to be a character of weight, he so surnamed himself, as though he were a most excellent discourser.

But though he put himself to pains to gain repute according to the Persian language, yet by the Divine dispensation he was made stil] an unwilling witness against himself; so as to honour himself in Persia, at the expense uf proclaiming himself a maniac among the Greeks. ie 25. And he dared to say that he was the Paraclete® ; )

99,' though it be written, But he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath no forgiveness.

He then blasphemed, saying that he was the Holy Ghost; let him that hath fellowship with them, take heed with whom he is ranking himself. The Brora), servant shook the world, since for three things the earth is disquieted, and the fourth it cannot bear, when a servant reigneth.

And having come into public, he now began to promise things superhuman.

The son of the king of the Persians was sick, and a great crowd of physicians was in attendance.

Manes promised to restore him by prayer, as though he werea devout man. The physicians departed, and the child's life with them,—this detected the man's impiety ; our philosopher came into bonds, being cast into prison, not for reproving the king for truth's sake, not for overthrowing the idols, but for promising to save, and lying; vea rather, to say truth, for committing murder.

For a patient who might have been cured by medical treatment, he in sending away the physicians, murdered by want of that treatment.

26. But in this enumeration of his multiplied offences, remember first his blasphemy ; secondly, his slavery; (not that slavery is a shame to a man, but that fora man who is a slave to feign himself free, is an offence ;) thirdly, the falsehood of his promise; fourthly, the murder of the child;

& That Manes or Manicheos proby Eusebius, Hist. vii. 31. Theodoret. feased himself to be the promised ParaHer. i. 26. i clete or Spirit of Christ, is confirmed xrxii, 16. in peeie seta ta Rear

Flies into Mesopotamia; Archelaus encounters him.

fifthly, the shame of the prison.

And there was not only the shame of the prison, but also the flight from the prison; yea, he who said that he was the Paraclete, and the champion of Truth, fled.

He was not a successor of Jesus, who readily came to the cross; he was the reverse,arunaway.

Then the king of Persia ordered the keepers of the prison to be led off to capital punishment.

Manes was through his presumption the cause of the child's death: so too was he the cause of the keeper's death through his flight.

Is he then who has a share in murder, fit to be worshipped? Ought he not to have followed Jesus, and said, Jf ye seek me, let these yo their John 8, way? ought he not to have said like Jonas, Take me, ands ah cast me into the sea; for my sake is this great tempest ?

13.9

27. He flies from prison, and comes to Mesopotamia; but (15.) there the Bishop Archelaus meets him as a weapon of righteousness, who argued with him before philosophers as judges, bringing together a Gentile audience, lest if Christians judged, the judges might be considered partial.

And he says to Manes, ' Tel] us what thou preachest."

He, whose Ps. 5,9. mouth was an holy sepulchre, began his defence with blasphemies against the Maker of all things.

'" The God of the Old Testament is the inventor of evil; for he saith of himself,

I ama consuming fire." But Archelaus skilfully met the blaspew: 4, phemous argument; " If the God of the Old Testament, he

~ said, according to thy words, calls Himself fire, whose Son is He who saith, I am come to send fire on the earth!

If thou Lukel2, find fault with Him who saith, The Lord killeth and maketh **: i alive, wherefore honourest thou Peter, who though he raised, 6. —

Tabitha, yet slew Sapphira?

If again thou findest fault with Him as preparing fire, wherefore not with Him who says,

Depart from me into everlasting fire?

If with Him who Mat.gs, says, I am the God that maketh peace and create evil; +). explain how Jesus saith, J am not come to send peace, but a Mat.i0, sword?

Since both speak the same language, one of two ay things must follow: either both are right, because they agree ga sars. in these words: or if Jesus is unreproveable in so speaking, why reproachest thou Him who in the Old Testament says the same?"

28. Then says Manes to him: " And what sort of God is (16.) he who blinds men?

For it is Paul who says, In whom the2o-4,

Mysteries not to be revealed to unbelievers.

LT Lect. God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe VI. not, that the light of the Gospel might not shine into them."

But Archelaus retorted well, " Read what comes just before, ab ver. But tf our Gospel be hid, it is hid tn them that are lost. ci Seest thou, it is in the lost that it is hid?

For we must Matt.7,not give what is holy to the dogs.

Again, is it only the God : of the Old Testament who hath blinded the minds of the uneee 13, believers?

And hath not Jesus Himself said, For this cause * speak Iunto them in parables, that seeing they may not see?

Was it because He hated them, that He would not that they should see? or was it because of this unworthiness, since

Mat, 13, they had closed their eyes?

For where there is self-chosen = at.25, depravity, there is also the withholding of grace: for to him

29. that hath shall be given, but from him that hath not shall be Tuke 8 taken even that which he seemeth to have."

29. Or we may say, as some explain, and not despicably, If He hath indeed blinded the minds of the unbelievers, He hath blinded them for good purpose, that they may look up to what is good; for He hath not said, " He hath blinded veiuara.the soul," but, the thoughts of the unbelievers.

For what He says is sotnething of this kind; "' Blind the profligate thoughts of the profligate man, and he is saved: blind the rapacious and plundering spirit of the robber, and he is saved." If thou wilt not so take it, there is yet another exposition of it. The sun too blinds those who are dull of sight; and men with weak eyes are blinded, the light distressing them; not that the sun is of a blinding nature, but because their eyes themselves do not see. And he hath not said, "' He hath blinded

Mat.13, their thoughts," that they might not hear the Gospel, but, éhat Ma 4 the light of the glory of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ

' should not shine unto them. For to hear the Gospel is allowed to all: but the glory of the Gospel is set apart for them who are truly Christ's.

Therefore our Lord spake in parables to them who were not able to hear; but to His disciples He expounded them privately: for the brightness of glory is for the Illuminated, but blindness for the unbelievers.

These mysteries which the Church now speaks to thee who art removed from among the Catechumens, it is not the custom to speak to Gentiles: for to a Gentile we speak not the mysteries concerning the Father and the Son, and the Holy

Death of Manes ; his doctrines.

28775 Spirit, nor before Catechumens do we discourse plainly about mysteries; but many things many times we speak in a covert manner, that the faithful who know may understand, and that those who know not may receive no hurt.

$0. With such words and many more was the serpent overcome; thus did Archelaus wrestle with Manes, and threw him.

Again he, who had fled from prison, flies from this (17.) place also: and, having escaped his adversary, he comes to a very mean village; like the serpent iu Paradise who left Adam, and came to Eve.

But the good shepherd Archelaus taking thought for the sheep, when he heard of his flight, straightway with all speed hastened in search of the wolf.

Manes seeing his adversary unexpectedly, rushed away and fled ; and fled for the last time.

For the guards of the king of Persia, being on the search, arrest the runaway, and inflict on him the te) ves sentence which he was on the point of receiving at the see A¢x* of Archelaus.

That Manes, who is now worshipped by hisi.e.from disciples, is seized, and led to the king; the king cast in his aR teeth his falsehood and flight; derided his slavish condition ; avenged the murder ofhis son; condemned him also for the murder of the jailors.

He orders Manes to be flayed after the Persian fashion; and the rest of his body was thrown as food for wild beasts: but his skin, that receptacle of a most foul mind, was hung up like a sack before the gates.

He who called himself the Paraclete, and professed to know things to come, knew not his own flight and seizure*.

$1. This man had three disciples, Thomas, and Baddas, (18.) and Hermas.

Let no one read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the Twelve Apostles, but of one of the three evil followers of Manes.

Let no one join himself to the soul-wasting Manichees,—who affect ce the harshness of fasting with chaff and water, who gorge 34,0" themselves with the daintiest of meats, while they speak against the Creator, who teach, that he who plucks up a herb, is changed into it'.

For if he who crops a herb, or any vegetable, is changed into it, into how many will husbandmen and the tribe of gardeners be changed?

Into how eats eins won Lite ike Coot ot oe Manichiesn firmed in substance by Sodrates, Hist. heresy appended to the Translation of i. 22. Epiphanius, Her.66. and Arche8. Austin's Confessions.

769"

Doctrines and rites of Manicheism.

Lect. many doth the gardener put his sickle, as we see;—into VI. which then of these is he transformed? Ridiculous doctrines truly, and fraught with their own condemnation and shame !

A shepherd both sacrifices a sheep and slays a wolf; into which is he changed?

Many men have both netted fishes and limed birds; into which are they changed ?

$2. Let the Manichees, children of sloth, answer; who themselves work not, and eat up the labours of those who do; who receive with smiling countenances those who bring them meats, and return them curses instead of blessings.

For when some simple person brings them any thing, the Manichee says, " Stand forth a little, and I will bless thee:" then having received the bread into his hand, (as some of them who have repented have confessed,) he says to the bread, " I did not make thee;" and he utters curses against the Highest, and curses him that made the bread, and thus eats what is made.

If thou hatest food, why didst thou look with a smiling face on him who brought it?

If thou art grateful to him who brought it, why utterest thou blasphemy against God who made and fashioned it? And again he says,

"I did not sow thee; may the sower of thee be sown! I did not reap thee with a sickle; may the reaper of thee be reaped!

I baked thee not with fire; may the baker of thee be baked!"

A fair return this for kindness.

(19.) 33. These are great offences, yet but small in comparison of what remains behind.

I do not venture to describe their Baptism* before men and women.

I do not venture to say what they dispense to their wretched congregations', It is truly a pollution of our lips to speak on the subject.

Are Greeks more loathsome? are Samaritans more abandoned ? are Jews more blasphemous? are open profligates more unclean? The Manichee at the very altar, as he thinks right, places his offering"; and dost thou, O man, accept teaching k The Manichees of later times seem to have rejected Baptism, using oil for water, or considering Baptism aspiritual washing.

Ed. Bened.

' The original rans thus: Ob redwa slersiv, cin luBdeveress cdo lex dda, Udeaes woig bbALog. Ud everdpues 91 pcbver Sndrodate. dideus vag va by vais leuwnmeneis

™'O ply Weeniivas, weds ciny Sear di lwdopian e127 civ egabir rade ES ui wis wedtsan, os piarbils olds Acwrger ierBudpesves, za) qovee wis wedtias of sucagiv.

'O 01 Manyaies bocmoengion rents renigu, vines calcn, nat aal ¢6 eedpa na) oh) yloerar. a rocdveu orduaves, Avdewws s. o. 2. ra

Contrast between" the Church and heresy.

at such a mouth? dost thou meet him and greet him at all with a kiss; and not rather, without reference to his other blasphemy, flee from this defiled teacher, from a man worse than dissolute, more loathsome than any haunt of profligacy ?

34. These things the Church tells of and teaches thee, and touches mire, that thou be not bemired: she tells of wounds, that thou be not wounded.

Suffice it thee to know the fact ; attempt not to learn by experience.—God thunders, and we all tremble; but they blaspheme.

God lightens, and we all bow down to earth; but they have blasphemous tongues concerning the heavens,—which are written in their books, and which we have read, disbelieving those who affirmed them: yes, for your salvation, we have closely inquired into 'their deadly doctrines'.

35. But may the Lord deliver us from such error: and may you be vouchsafed enmity against the serpent; that as they watch the heel, so you in turn may trample on their head.

Remember the text, What agreement is there between our matters and theirs? what hath light to do with darkness? 2 Cor.

What the majesty of the Church with the abomination of the ® !* Manichees?

Here is order, here is discipline, here majesty, tewrthere chastity: here even a wanton glance is condemnation. pee

(20.) Here is marriage with seriousness, and perseverance in contitrod. nence, and the angelical rank of a virgin life, feasting with emt '. thanksgiving, and towards the Maker of the world an affecpyuyétionate heart. Here the Father of Christ is worshipped ; hereis tee taught fear and trembling towards Him who sends us rain,

1 Tim. and praise ascribed to Him who thunders and lightens. he 86. Fold thou with the sheep: flee the wolves; depart not from the Church.

Nay, abhor those who at any time have come into suspicion of such things; and unless in the course of time thou ascertain their repentance, be not hasty to trust thyself with them.

The truth is now delivered to thee, how so me are ledvpias nasgods Tur, = Kgxsises wegl obgasan vag Iuedipovs Iyoww: yrdecas.

"Ineois Aiys: wigi vod waceds abved, "Ores civ Hse aired draotras iw) Sisaious xa) ddixous, xa Beizes kw) woongods xa) dyabods. ears Aiyeven, Sos ol dered iE igwernitts paving yivovras, ne) worpaas Abyus, Ses beci cis waghives iv obgary shudhs used veaviency sbudeis, nal nave che cay xapndar f Adzer maigdy, RAT TRY TOU aispscivos MMIgEP, eeeriander abréy imieghyur ci rastiry, nal chy pay Gtdyur Pasi, des cdo cur. lee berergwe Deeds, aed Foca Rgdrav abved a viv vivir.

Warning against heresy.

Lact. God only is the First Principle of all things; distinguish tone pasturage of doctrine from another.

Be thou a good re, banker', holding fust what ts good, abstaining from ail Vid. appearance of evil.

But if thou thyself wert even one of them, Theess.5

$1. 292. now that thou hast discovered thine error, abhor it.

It will prove a way of salvation, to vomit it up; to hate it from thy heart; to shun them too, not with thy lips only, but with thy soul also; to bow down to the Father of Christ, the God of the Law and the Prophets ; to acknowledge the Good and the Just, to be One and the same God.

May He keep all of you, guarding you from fall and offence, stablished in the Faith, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen. iii, 50 &c. Dionys.Alex. ap. Euseb. Hist. vii, 7. Origen in Joan. viii. 20. &c.

Ussher, Valesius, é&c. consider it taken from the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

These words, which are frequently quoted in antiquity, are sometimes ascribed to our

Lord, sometimes to S. Paul. Vid.Constit.

Apost, ii. 36. Clementin. Hom. ii, 51.

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