24. If what we have made
mention of out of the Apostolic Epistles seem to you to fall short
of an answer, hear yet others, if ye have ears. What saith the
utterly mad Manichæan of the Flesh of Christ? That it was not
true, but false. What saith the blessed Apostle to this?
“Remember that Christ Jesus rose again from the dead of the seed
of David, according to my Gospel.”1890
And
Christ Jesus Himself saith,
“Handle and see, that a spirit hath not
flesh and
bones, as ye
see me to have.”
1891
How is there
truth in their
doctrine, which asserts that in the
Flesh of
Christ there was
falsehood? How was there in
Christ no
evil, in Whom was so great a
lie? Because forsooth to men over-
clean true
flesh is an
evil, and
false
flesh instead of true is not an
evil: it is an
evil, true
flesh of one
born of the
seed of
David, and it is no
evil, false
tongue of one saying, “Handle, and see, that a spirit hath not
flesh and
bones, as ye see me to have.” Of the
Church what saith
the
deceiver of men with
deadly error? That on the side of
souls it
pertains unto
Christ, on the side of bodies unto the
devil? What to
this saith the
Teacher of the Gentiles in
faith and
truth? “Know
ye not,” saith he, “that your bodies are members of
Christ?”
1892
Of the sex
of male and
female what saith the son of
perdition? That either sex
is not of
God, but of the
devil. What to this saith the
Vessel of
Election? “As,” saith he, “the
woman from out the man, so
also the man through the
woman: but all things of
God.”
1893
Of the
flesh what saith the
unclean spirit through the Manichæan? That it
is an
evil substance, and not the
creation of
God, but of an
enemy.
What to this saith the
Holy Spirit through
Paul? “For as the body
is one,” saith he, “and hath many members, but all the members
of the body, being many, are one body: so also is
Christ.”
1894
And a
little after; “
God hath set,” saith he, “the members, each
one of them in the body, as He willed.”
1895
Also a little after; “
God,”
saith he, “hath tempered the body, giving greater
honor unto that
to which it was wanting, that there should be no
schisms in the
body, but that the members have the self-same care one for another:
and whether one member
suffer, all the members
suffer with it: or
one member be
glorified, all the members
rejoice with it.”
1896
How is the
flesh evil, when the
souls themselves are
admonished to
imitate the
peace of its members? How is it the
creation of the
enemy, when the
souls themselves, which rule the bodies, take pattern from the
members of the body, not to have
schisms of enmities among
themselves, in order that, what
God hath granted unto the body by
nature, this themselves also may
love to have by
grace? With good
cause, writing to the
Romans, “I beseech you,” saith he,
“
brethren, by the
mercy of
God, that ye present your bodies a
sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to
God.”
1897
Without reason we
contend that
darkness is not
light, nor
light darkness, if we present a
sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God, of the bodies of the
“nation of darkness.”
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