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The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

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350 Credibility <strong>of</strong> the Gospel History.<br />

pared an eternal prison for the nation <strong>of</strong> darkness. <strong>The</strong>re-<br />

fore God's dominion must be over all.<br />

Upon account <strong>of</strong> their doctrine <strong>of</strong> two principles, to be<br />

taken notice <strong>of</strong> hereafter, the Manichees are <strong>of</strong>ten charged<br />

with believing- two gods. So Turbo, in the Acts <strong>of</strong> Arche-<br />

laus, expressly says <strong>of</strong> Mani :<br />

' He" worships two g^ods,<br />

' self-existent, eternal, opposite to each other, one good, the<br />

' other bad.' And Socrates said, that" Mani taught his<br />

disciples to worship many gods.<br />

Faustus particularly considers this point. ' IsP there one<br />

' God ; or are there two gods ? For certain, one. Why<br />

' then do you say there are two gods 1 That is no doctrine<br />

' <strong>of</strong> ours. Why do you suspect it to be so? Because you<br />

' believe two principles, one good, the other bad. It is true,<br />

' we believe two principles: but one <strong>of</strong> these we call God, the<br />

' other Hyle; or sometimes, in common discourse, the devil.'<br />

However, he adds afterwards :<br />

' I own thati we sometimes<br />

' call the adverse nature god : not that it is so esteemed by<br />

' us, but by those who worship it, even as the apostle speaks<br />

' <strong>of</strong> the " god <strong>of</strong> this world blinding the eyes <strong>of</strong> them that<br />

' believe not." ' See 2 Cor. ivc 4.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y likewise considered God as the creator <strong>of</strong> the heavens<br />

and the earth, and u\l things that are therein, as"^ Augustine<br />

Essures us ; which is very difterent from what is said <strong>of</strong><br />

them by ^Athanasius and *Rufinus. Forasmuch therefore<br />

as some writers deny that the Ma))ichees ascribed the creation<br />

<strong>of</strong> the world to the good principle, and some other<br />

" OvroQ Svo (Tij3u Bisq ayivvtirag, avTO(pveig, aiding, iva Tcp tvi avTiKtifitvov,<br />

Kai Tov fitv ayaQov, rov St Trovrj^ov tttrr/yttrat. ap. Arch. n. 7. p. 9.<br />

" noXX8c Sfsc ffs/^fiv o Mavixaiog TrporptTrtrat. Socr. 1. i. c. 22.<br />

P Unus Deus est, an duo ? Plane imus. Quomocio ergo vos duos asserifis ?<br />

Nunquam in nostris quidem assertionihus duorum deoruni audituni est nomen.<br />

Sed tu unde hoc suspicaris, cupio scire. Quia bonorum et malorum duo<br />

principia traditis. Est quidem quod duo principia confitemur ; std unum<br />

ex his Deum vocamus, aherum Hylen, aut, ut communiter et usitate dixerini,<br />

daemonem. Faust. 1. 21. in.<br />

•i Nam<br />

nee diffiteor, etiam interdum nos adversam naf uram nuncupare deum,<br />

sed non hoc secundum nostram fidem, verum juxta prapsumtum jam in eam<br />

nomen acultonbus suis, qui earn imprudenferexistimantdeum, &c. ib. ad fin.<br />

Vos autem fatemini universum istum mundum, qui nomine cceh et terrae<br />

significatur, habere auctorem et fabricatorem Deum, et Deum bonum. De<br />

Mor. Manioh. c. x. n. 16.<br />

* Km ya^ KifKtivoi [Mavixaioi] /xovov axQiQ ovoyLUTOQ ayaOup Sriov ovojia^aai,<br />

Kui tpyov niv avTU ovre ftXiTrojitvov ovTt aopoTOV dtiKvuetv SwavraC rov Se<br />

aXijOivov Kai ovtwq ovru Siiov rov Trotrjrr^v apavH kui yrjg, /cai Travrwv rwv<br />

ao()aTo)V, upyHfitvoi, TravTiXoiQ iim fivOoXnyoi. Ath. Ep. Enc. ad Ep. JE^.<br />

et Lib. n. 16. T. i. p. 285. ' Tum dcinde quod mundum a<br />

malo iactum dicit, Deum crcatorem negat. Ruf. in Symb. Ap. Hicron. 0pp.<br />

T. 5. p. 142.

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