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The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

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

ciently show that it Mas made out <strong>of</strong> two substances ; at the<br />

same time things have not come into that form and proportion<br />

which constitutes the world, but by the authority and<br />

command <strong>of</strong> one only. So my author.<br />

IX. <strong>The</strong> Manichjean notion <strong>of</strong> the creation <strong>of</strong> man may be<br />

seen in' Beausobre, taken from Mani himself, Archelaus,<br />

Augustine, Titus <strong>of</strong> Bostra, <strong>The</strong>odoret, and others.<br />

A succinct account <strong>of</strong> what he says at large is to this<br />

purpose : <strong>The</strong>*" daemons, foreseeing that God would insensibly<br />

withdraw the light, or the reasonable soul which he<br />

had sent into matter, and leave them to themselves, or punish<br />

them for their late attempt, thought <strong>of</strong> -a method to detain<br />

it. <strong>The</strong>y had seen the first man, who came to fight them ;<br />

and they still discerned his form in the sun, or the heavens.<br />

Upon this model they formed the human body, thereby to<br />

attract souls ; Avho, not perceiving the snare which the devil<br />

had laid for them, entered the body, and were touched with<br />

the pleasure afforded by the organs <strong>of</strong> the senses, and especially<br />

that <strong>of</strong> concupiscence. Pleasure seduces and transports<br />

them, and they become delighted with their new habitation.<br />

Hereby they are led to propag'ate, and thus they forge their<br />

own chains and build their own prisons.<br />

Some passages <strong>of</strong> Mani's Epistle <strong>of</strong> the Foundation, concerning-<br />

the formation <strong>of</strong> man, may be seen in^ Augustine.<br />

I think it is past dispute that Mani did ascribe the forma-<br />

tion <strong>of</strong> the human body to matter, or the devil, or the evi!<br />

principle. I refer for this purpose to some passag-es in the<br />

Acts'*' <strong>of</strong> Archelaus and^ Epiphanius ; and shall transcribe<br />

in the margin some passages <strong>of</strong> Mani,y in his letter to Menoch,<br />

Avhere he speaks <strong>of</strong> Satan being' the author <strong>of</strong> bodies, as<br />

God is <strong>of</strong> souls. Augustine's article upon this point in^ his<br />

summary account <strong>of</strong> Man ich seism, as likewise what he says*<br />

elsewhere, deserves our attention.<br />

constat non esse unam substantiam, licet ex unius jussione eadera ad compo-<br />

sitionem mundi hujus etfaciem venerint. Fortunat. Disp. i. n, 13.<br />

' Hist, de Manich. T. 2. p. 399—418. " lb. p. 410.<br />

" dicens, nosse te ciipeie cujiismodi sit nativitas Adae et Evae, utrum<br />

verbo sint iidern prolati, an primogeniti ex corpore. Man. ap. Aug. contr.<br />

Ep. Manich. c. 12. n. 14. Vid. et Aug. de Natura Boni. cap. 46.<br />

" Vid. Arch. n. 10. p. 19, 20. n. 14. p. 27. " H. 66. n. 30.<br />

> Sicut ergo auctor animarum Deus est, ita corporum auctor per concupis-<br />

centiam diabolus est, &c. ap. Aug. op. Imp. 1. 3. c. 174. vid. et. c. 176, 176.<br />

^ Adam et Evam ex parentibus principibus fumi asserunt natos, cum pater<br />

eorum nomine Saclas sociorum suorum fetus omnium devorasset, et quidquid<br />

inde commixtum divinae substantiee ceperat, cum uxore concumbens in came,<br />

prolis tamquani tenacissimo vmculo coUigasset. De H. c. 46.<br />

^ ita sane, ut ipsam fabricam mundi, quamvis ex commixtione boni<br />

et maU, Deo bono et artifici tribuat ; animalia vero, et cuncta quae nascuntur

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