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358 Credibility of the Gospel History.
18, " A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can
a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit :" and' from the seventh
chapter of the epistle to the Romans, where the apostle
speaks of two laws, or two powers ; one the understanding
or reason, the other the fleshor themembers of the fleshly body,
which are in perpetual opposition: and from'" 1 John v. 19,
" The w hole world lies in wickedness," or the evil one ; and
from other texts which need not to be particularly mentioned.
VIII. According to the Manichees, the formation of this
world was occasional, owing to an attempt of the kingdom
of darkness upon the kingdom of light. Augustine ex-
presseth himself briefly in his summary' account of Mani-
chffiism :
' They^ own, indeed, that the world was made by
' the good nature, that is, the nature of God, but out of a
' mixture of good and evil, which happened when the two
' natures fought together.'
There is somewhat about this fight in> the fragments of
Mani's letter Of the Foundation. But there must have been
more said of it in that part of the letter w hich Augustine
did not answer, and therefore did not quote. For want of
Avhich 1 shall be oblioed to take the account of this matter
from other authors.
Theodoret says, ' There ^ being a prodigious tumult and
' intestine war in the kingdom of Hyle, as they contended
' and fought w ith each other, they exceeded the bounds of
* their own territories, and came to the confines of light
' at the sight of which they were greatly surprised and de-
' lighted, and did all they could to lay hold of and mix the
' light with themselves.'
Titus of Bostra says, that '* matter having made the inroad
* before mentioned, the good being sent out a power or spirit,
* to which the Manichees give what name they please, to
' See Beausobre, T. 2. p. 253. " Ego duas naturas esse dico,
unam bonam, alteram malam,— sicut ait Joannes :
Totus mundus in maligno
positus est, non in Deo. ap. Arch. n. 14. p. 2G.
" Proinde mundum a natura boni, hoc est, a natura Dei factum, confitentur
quidem, sed de commixtione boni et mah,quae facta est, quando inter se utraque
natura pugnavit. De Ha?r. c. 46.
y Unde si tibi videtur, inquit, ausculta prius quEe fuerint ante constitutionem
mundi, et quo pacto prceUum sit agitatum, ut possis luminis sejungere naturam
ac tenebrarum. ap. Aug. contra Ep. Manich. c. 12. n. 15. Vid, et libr. De
Fid. contr. Manich. cap. xi.
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