2. Then Manes made the
following reply to him: And what manner of God now is it that
blinds one? For it is Paul who uses these words: “In
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the Gospel should shine in them.”2168
But
Archelaus broke in and refuted this very well, saying: Read,
however, a word or two of what precedes that sentence, namely,
“But if our
Gospel be hid, it is hid in them that are
lost.” You see that it is hid in them that are lost.
“For it is not meet to give the holy things to
dogs.”
2169
And
furthermore, is it only the
God of the Old Testament that has
blinded
the minds of them who believe not? Nay, has not
Jesus Himself
also said: “Therefore speak I to them in
parables:
that seeing, they may not see?”
2170
Is it then because He hated them
that He desired them not to see? Or is it
not on account
of their unworthiness, since they closed their own eyes? For
wherever wickedness is a matter self-chosen, there too there is the
absence of grace. “For unto him that hath shall be given,
but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he
seemeth to have.”
2171
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