Flies into Mesopotamia; Archelaus encounters him. 73 Jonah 1, 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, a runaway. 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 keepers' 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, If ye seek me, let these go their John 18, way? ought he not to have said like Jonas, Take me, andR. cast me into the sea; for my sake is this great tempest? 12. 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, "Tell us what thou preachest." He, whose Ps. 5,9. mouth was an open 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 am a consuming fire." But Archelaus skilfully met the blas- Deut. 4, phemous argument; "If the God of the Old Testament, he 24. 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 Luke12, find fault with Him who saith, The Lord killeth and maketh 1 Sam. alive, wherefore honourest thou Peter, who though he raised 2, 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. 25, says, I am the God that maketh peace and create evil; Is. 45, 7. explain how Jesus saith, I am not come to send peace, but a Mat. 10, sword? Since both speak the same language, one of two things must follow: either both are right, because they agree nanoi. in these words: or if Jesus is unreproveable in so speaking, why reproachest thou Him who in the Old Testament says the same?" 49. 41. 34. ἀμφότε 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 the 2 Cor. 74 Mysteries not to be revealed to unbelievers. 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, Ib. ver. But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid in them that are lost. Seest thou, it is in the lost that it is hid? For we must only the God 3. Mat. 7, not give what is holy to the dogs. Again, is it 6. 13. of the Old Testament who hath blinded the minds of the unMat.13, believers? And hath not Jesus Himself said, For this cause speak I unto 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 depravity, there is also the withholding of grace: for to him 'that hath shall be given, but from him that hath not shall be Luke 8, taken even that which he seemeth to have." 15. Mat. 25, 29. 18. 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 vonuara. the soul," but, the thoughts of the unbelievers. For what He 13. says is something 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 their thoughts," Mat. 13, that they might not hear the Gospel, but, that 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 Mark 4, 34. Death of Manes; his doctrines. 75 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. 30. 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 in 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 iì rou 'Aexisentence which he was on the point of receiving at the see of Archelaus. That Manes, who is now worshipped by his i.e. from disciples, is seized, and led to the king; the king cast in his pulace. teeth his falsehood and flight; derided his slavish condition; avenged the murder of his 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". the po 31. 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 res the harshness of fasting with chaff and water, who gorge ἀχύρων 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 The foregoing account of the history of Manes and his predecessors, is confirmed in substance by Socrates, Hist. i. 22. Epiphanius, Hær. 66. and Arche laus, Act. Disput. i Vid. the account of the Manichæan heresy appended to the Translation of . Austin's Confessions. V1. 76 Doctrines and rites of Manichism. LECT. many doth the gardener put his sickle, as we see;-into 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? (19.) 32. 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. 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 a spiritual washing. Ed. Bened. 1 The original runs thus: Οὐ τολμῶ εἰπεῖν, τίνι ἐμβάπτοντες τὴν ἰσχάδα, διδόασι τοῖς ἀθλίοις. διὰ συσσήμων δὲ μόνον δηλού· σθω. ἄνδρες γὰρ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἐνυπνιασμοῖς ἐνθυμείσθωσιν, καὶ γυναῖκες τὰ ἐν ἀφέδροις, Μιαίνομεν ἀληθῶς τὸ στόμα κ. τ. λ. τι Ὁ μὲν γὰρ πορνεύσας, πρὸς μίαν ὥραν δι' ἐπιθυμίαν τελεῖ τὴν πρᾶξιν· καταγινώσκων δὲ τῆς πράξεως, ὡς μιανθεὶς οἶδι λουτροῦ ἐπι· δεόμενος, καὶ γινώσκει τῆς πράξεως τὸ μυσαρόν. Ὁ δὲ Μανιχαίος θυσιαστηρίου μέσον, οὗ νομίζει. τίθησι ταῦτα, καὶ μιαίνει καὶ τὸ στόμα καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν. παρὰ τοιούτου στόματος, ἄνθρωπε κ. τ. λ. Contrast between the Church and heresy. 77 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 (20.) 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, iTHhere chastity: here even a wanton glance is condemnation. vid. Here is marriage with seriousness, and perseverance in conti- trod. Lect. §. nence, and the angelical rank of a virgin life, feasting with 4. thanksgiving, and towards the Maker of the world an affec- Bewμátionate heart. Here the Father of Christ is worshipped; here is taught fear and trembling towards Him who sends us rain, Tim. 4, and praise ascribed to Him who thunders and lightens. 36. 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 * Κακεῖνοι περὶ οὐρανῶν τὰς δυσφήμους ἔχουσι γλώσσας. ̓Ιησοῦς λέγει περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. Ὅστις τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνα· τέλλει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους, καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθούς. κἀκεῖνοι λέγουσιν, ὅτι οἱ ὑετοὶ ἐξ ἐρωτικῆς μανίας γίνονται καὶ τολμῶσι λέγειν, ὅτι ἐστί τις παρθένος ἐν οὐ. ρανῷ εὐειδὴς μετὰ νεανίσκου εὐειδοῦς, καὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν καμηλῶν ἢ λύκων καιρὸν, τοὺς τῆς αἰσχρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας καιροὺς ἔχειν, supr. In των με τοχή. 1 3. |