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300 Credibilky of the Gospel History.
the world, aiul must needs be sincere lovers of truth, because
the world hated them, and they were always under perse-
cution.
It appears by Augustine's second day's conference with
Felix, at Hippo, in the year 404, that the Manichaean books,
or papers of Felix, had been taken from him, and were in
the custody of a public officer. Felix ^ desired to have them
restored to him for his assistance in the debate: Augustine
at length allows that any thing- he pointed to might be
recited out of those writings. Among- them was a letter of
Mani, called The Epistle of the Foundation. And, in the
first day's conference, Felix several 'times intimates'' the
difficulty he lay under in disputing against the imperial
laws.
When Augustine" speaks of the banishment of Faustus
and others into an island, I think he intimates that by law
they might have been punished more severely :
for he says
that moderate sentence was obtained by the intercession of
those very christians who prosecuted Faustus and his Manichscan
friends in the proconsul's court. And, in the same
context, a little before, he speaks of the"* advantage the
Manichees had from the mildness of the catholics, which
was such that their sufferings were few and almost none at
all. But then it should be observed that' Augustine computes
banishment into a desert island to be a mere trifle, and
little more than retirement, which gave men an opportunity
for meditation : moreover, as he assures us, the banishment
of the Manichees before mentioned Mas of short duration;
they were all soon released by public authority.
And it may be collected from some things said by Augus-
8 Et quia nullam scripturam inter manes habui, quia non mihi sunt redditae,
unde me instruere possem. Nullus enini ad certamen exit, nisi prius munitus
fuerit : tt nullus litigator potest sine suis chartis litigare. Similiter et ego sine
mea scriptura respondere non possum.—Modo peto, codices reddantur raihi.
Aug. dixit : Sed quia codices tuos repetis, qui sub sigillo publico custodiuntur.
— 'I'olle autem codices tuos, et die quid inde velis proferri.—Felix dixit:
Omnes scnpturas, quae mihi sublatoe sunt. Istaenira Epistola Fundamenti est,
&c. Act. cum Fel. 1. 2. c.
^ Non tantum ego possum contra tuam virtutem, deinde contra leges Impe-
ratonim.—Act. cum Fel. 1. 1. c. 12. Vid. ib. infra, et cap. 6.
' Faustus autem, convictus vel confessus quod Manichaeus esset, cum aliis
nonnullis secum ad judicium proconsulare perductis, eis ipsis christianis a
quibus perducti sunt intercedentibus, levissima poena, si tamen ilia poena
dicenda est, in insulam relegatus est ; quod sua sponte quotidic fervi Dei
faciunt, se aturbulento strepitu populorum removere cupientes ;—Denique non
multo post inde omnes eadem sollemni sorte dimissi sunt. Contr. Faust. 1. 6.
c. 8. ^ Pro qua impia perversitate, propter christianorum
temporum mansuetudinem, quam parva et prope nulla patiamini, cur non
cogitatis ? lb. ' Vid. not. '.
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