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330 Credibility of the Gospel Uisturij.
Christ. Augustine observes, that" they would not say the
doctrine of the apostles of Christ was in any respect false
and mistaken.
By all which we may perceive how much the late ingenious
Stephen Nye was mistaken, when he said that? the
Manichees never ^vere accounted a sect of christians.
I shall add but little more here.
Fortnnatus, the Manicluean presbyter, in the dispute with
Augustine, says, the^ soul cannot be reconciled to God but
by the Lord Jesus Christ : that"^ Christ our Saviour has
taught us what good we ought to do, and what evil we ought
to avoid, in order to please God : that* the doctrine of Christ
is sound doctrine, by which the soul may be purified from
its defilements, and brought back to the kingdom of God.
II. Mani then and his followers were christians. It will
appear farther from great numbers of things to be taken
notice of as Ave go along. However, I would here add u
few passages showing, in some measure, what opinions they
held in common with other christians.
They believed a God and a Trinity, and that God made
the world ; so Augustine* says. Nevertheless we may hereafter
observe some differences between them and other chris-
tians upon these heads.
They required and encouraged repentance, as Augustine
likewise assures" us.
And he observes that^ he and the Manichees agree in
" Nam ilia vox altera Paganorum est, qui dicunt, Apostolos Christi noii
recta docuisse. Contr. Faust. 1. 32. c. IG. in.
P Nye's Def. of the Canon of the New Test. p. 87, &c.
•i ^et animara aliter non posse reconciliari Deo, nisi per magis-
trum, qui est Jesus Christus. Aug. et Fortu. Disp. i. n. 17.
auctore Salvatore nostro, qui nos docet et bona exercere, et
mala fugere. Disp. 2. n. 20. f.
' si post admonitionem Salvatoris nostri, et sanam doctrinara
ejus, a contraria et inimica sui stirpe se segregaverit anima ;—Unde patet recte
esse pcenitentiam datam post adventum Salvatoris, et post hanc scientiam rerum,
qua possit anima, acsi divino fonte lota, de sordibus et vitiis tam mundi totius,
quam corporum in quibus eadem anima versatur, regno Dei, unde progressa est,
reprsesentari. Fort. Disp. 2. c. 21.
* Numquid propterea dicere non debemus, quod bonus Deus fecerit mundum
; quia hoc dicit etiam Manichaeus ?—Item si interrogemur, utrum sit
Deus ? et nos et Manichaei respondemus : Est Deus.—De ipsa quoque Trinitate
interrogati, utrique dicimus, Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum
ejusdem esse naturae. Aug. Op. Imp. 1. v. c. 30.
" Nam ut inter omnes sanos constat, et quod ipsi Manichaei non solum
fatentur, sed et praecipiunt, utile est poenitere peccati. Aug. de duab. Anim.
c. 14. n. 22. m.
" Atque in his duobus convenit mihi cum Manichaeis, id est, ut Deura et
proximum diligamus : sed hoc veteri testamento negant contineri. De Mor. Ec.
Cath. c. 28. n. 57.