28. Manes
said:1688
| 1688
The opening sentences of this chapter are given in a very corrupt form
in our Codex Casinensis. Its text stands thus: “Tuum
et ipsius indicio comprehensus es; hæc enim versum te locutus,
ignorans, qui dum, me vis probra conjicere majori culpæ se
succumbit. Dic age mihi studias qua Tiberio usque ad Probum
defuncti sunt, dicent ad Jesum nolite nos judicare,” etc.
We have adopted these emendations: tuimet for tuum et;
adversum for versum; ignoras for ignorans; in me for
me; succumbis for se succumbit; si, ut ais, qui a, for
studias qua; and noli for nolite. |
You
are caught in the charge you yourself bring forward.
For you have been speaking now against yourself, and have not perceived
that, in trying to cast reproaches in my teeth, you lay yourself under
the greater fault. Tell me this now, I
pray you: if, as you
allege, those who have
died from the time of
Tiberius on to the days of
Probus are to say to
Jesus, “Do not
judge us if we have
failed to
do Thy works, for Thou didst not send the Paraclete to us, although
Thou didst
promise to send Him;”
1689
| 1689
Supplying missurum, which is not in the codex. |
will not those much more use such an
address who have departed this
life from the time of
Moses on to the
advent of
Christ Himself? And will not those with still greater
right express themselves in terms like these: “Do not
deliver us over to
torments,
1690
| 1690 Reading
“noli nos tradere tormentis,” instead of the meaningless
“noli nostra de tormentis” of the codex. |
seeing that we had no
knowledge of Thee imparted to us?”
And will it only be those that have
died thus
far previously to His
advent who may be seen making such a charge with right? Will not
those also do the same who have passed away from
Adam’s time on
to
Christ’s
advent? For none of these either obtained any
knowledge of the Paraclete, or received
instruction in the
doctrine of
Jesus. But only this latest generation of men, which has
run its
course from
Tiberius onward, as you make it out,
1691
| 1691
Reading ut ais instead of ut eas. |
is to be
saved: for it is
Christ
Himself that “has re-deemed them from the
curse of the
law;”
1692
as
Paul, too,
has given these further
testimonies, that “the letter killeth,
and quickeneth no man,”
1693
and that “the
law is the
ministration of
death,”
1694
and “the
strength of
sin.”
1695
Archelaus said: You
err, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the
power of
God.
1696
For many
have also
perished after the period of
Christ’s
advent on to this
present period, and many are still perishing,—those, to wit, who
have not chosen to
devote themselves to works of
righteousness; whereas
only those who have received Him, and yet receive Him, “have
obtained
power to become the sons of
God.”
1697
For the
evangelist has not said
all
have obtained that power; neither, on the other
hand,
however, has he put any limit on the time. But this is his
expression: “As many as received Him.”
Moreover, from the
creation of the
world He has ever been with
righteous men, and has never ceased to require their
blood at the
hands of the wicked, from the
blood of
righteous Abel to the
blood
of Zacharias.
1698
And
whence, then, did
righteous Abel and all those succeeding
worthies,
1699
| 1699
Reading reliqui per ordinem for the qui per ordinem of
the codex. |
who are enrolled
among the
righteous, derive their
righteousness when as yet there was
no
law of
Moses, and when as yet the
prophets had not arisen and
discharged the functions of
prophecy? Were they not constituted
righteous in
virtue of their fulfilling the
law, “every one of
them showing the
work of the
law written in their
hearts, their
conscience also bearing them witness?”
1700
For when a man “who has not the
law does naturally the things contained in the
law, he, not having the
law, is a
law unto himself.”
1701
And consider now the multitude of
laws thus existing among the several
righteous men who lived a
life of
uprightness, at one time discovering for themselves the
law of
God
implanted in their
hearts, at another learning of it from their
parents, and yet again being
instructed in it further by the ancients
and the
elders. But inasmuch as only few were able to rise by
this medium
1702
| 1702
Reading “per hunc modum.” But the Codex Casinensis
gives “per hunc mundum”—through this world. |
to the height of
righteousness, that is to say, by means of the
traditions of
parents,
when as yet there was no
law embodied in writing,
God had
compassion on
the race of man. and was pleased to give through
Moses a written
law to
men, since verily the equity of the
natural law failed to be retained
in all its
perfection in their
hearts. In consonance, therefore,
with man’s first
creation, a written legislation was prepared
which was given through
Moses in behoof of the
salvation of very
many. For if we reckon that man is justified without the works of
the
law, and if
Abraham was
counted righteous, how much more shall
those obtain
righteousness who have fulfilled the
law which contains
the things that are expedient for men? And seeing that you have
made mention only of three several scriptures, in terms of which the
apostle has declared that “the
law is a ministration of
death,”
1703
and that
“
Christ has
redeemed us from the
curse of the
law,”
1704
and that
“the law is the strength of sin,”
1705
you may now advance others of like tenor,
and bring forward any passages which may seem to you to be written
against the law, to any extent you please.
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