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356 CredibiliUj of the Gospel History,
' absurdity in the Maiiichftan scheme, that'' they ascribe an
' unreasonable life only to daemons: and yet those daemons
' are represented showing great art and skill. But,' says
Beausobre, ' Titus did not consider that the iManichees do
* not ascribe such ability to the daemons till after they
' had seized on the parts of light which Mere devoured by
' them, and became incorporated with them.' Whether this
be right I cannot say : 1 shall mention an observation concerning
this matter by and by.
' As for the devil,' to take the words of Beausobre, ' Mani
' did not believe him to be properly eternal, forasmuch as
' he gave him a father: which supposition he built upon the
' words of our Saviour in John viii. 44. According to him
' the father of the devil was matter agitated in a violent,
' irregular, and tumultuous manner.'
That learned writer does not refer to the proper vouchers
for proof of this account. I shall therefore add a few references
in the margin, taken from The Dispute of Archelaus,
where Mani is represented quoting the text of St. John's
gospel in this manner, ' the father of the devil is a liar and
'a murderer:' where likewise he speaks" of the devil as
having no former or creator but his own malice, whence he
sprang.
This notion of the origin of Satan may seem strange : and
yet perhaps it is not much stranger than the opinion of those
Mho tliouyht tiiat" plants grew up where no seeds hnd been
sown : and that animals in water and on the lanti, having
sexeSjSprung upout of the genial virtue of the elements alone,
descended from no parents. There is this difference only,
that these persons, it is likely, ascribed their genial virtue
'09iv TTKpevyaffi irpoffofioKoysiv avry Xoyiir/iov rt km yviomv. Tit. I. i. p.
70. sub in. ' B. T. i. p ] 79, and see him again, 'i". 2. p. 263.
"• Et alio in loco, patrem diaboli mendacem et homicidam esse confirmat
[Salvator Christus]. Manes, ap. Arch. c. 13. p. 24.—Cum loquitur mendacium,
de suis propriis loquitur, quoniam mendax est, sicut et pater ejus. ib.
n. 29. p. 48. Conf. Beaus. T. 2. p. 263.
" Si vcro consideretis, quomodo generentur filii homimim, invenietis non
esse Dominum hominis creatorem, sed alium, qui et ipse ingenitae est naturae,
cujus conditor nullus, nee creator, nee factor est, sed sola malitia sua talem
fcum protulit. ap. Arch. n. 14. p. 27.
° quia, nisi talis aliqua vis esset in istis elementis, non plerumque
nascerentur ex terra quae ibi seminata non essent : nee aninialia tam mulla,
nulla marium feminarumque commixtione praecedente, sive in terra, sive in
aqua, quae tamen crescunt, et coeundo alia pariunt, cum ilia nullis coeuntibus
parentibus orta sinf. Aug. de Trin. 1. 3. cap. 8. n. 13, Quod si animalia
quaedam vento et aura concipere solere, omnibus notum est.— Lact. Inst. 1. 4.
c. 12. sub in. Nee tamen commoveat aliquem, quod animalia quaedam de
terrjt nasci videntur. Haec enim non terra per se gignit, sed spiritus Dei, sine
quo nihil gignitur. 1. 2. c. 8. p. 183. Vid. Id. ib. 1. i. c. 8. p. 43.