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The Mankhecs. Sect. VI. 399
things, he says that' Matthew did not write this: and that
he is not the author of" the gospel under his name may be
concluded froni what is said, Matt. ix. 9, " And as Jesus
passed forth tVoni thence he saw a man named Matlhew,
sitting- at the receipt of custom ; and he saith unto him,
Follow me. And he arose and followed him." Faustus
arg-ues, that if Matthew were the writer he would have said ;
' Jesus saw me and called me, and I arose and followed him.'
But certainly this argument is unworthy of a man of learningand
consideration. The weakness of it is evident from many
texts
John
of the gospels not disputed by the Manichees.
iii. IG, our Lord himself says " : God so loved
In
the
world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him might not perish." John the evangelist
speaks of himself in the third person several times : see John
xix. 2(3 ; XX. 2 ; xxi. 7, 20. It is a common thing for Josephus,
the Jewish historian, to' speak of himself after the like
manner. And does not every one perceive that Matthew
out of modesty might decline to speak of himself in the
first person upon that occasion? Augustine has fully answered"
this objection: and I have transcribed a part of
what he says in the margin, for the satisfaction of inquisitive
readers.
Not to add, what is also well observed by Augustine
elsewhere, that" it is a vain imag-ination to think by such
trifling- objections to overthrow the authority of a gospel so
fully established as that of St. Matthew.
3. Augustine often intimates that the Manichees rejected
the Acts of the Apostles. He sometimes speaks as if their
aversion to that book was very great, and they could scarce
endure the mention of it. I have already cited several of his
« ut interim permiserimus nobis injuriam fecisse Matthasum, donee
et ipsum probemus haec non scripsisse, sed aliura nescio quern, sub nomine
ejus: quod docet et ipsa lectionis ejusdem Matthaei obliqua narratio. Quid
enim dicit ? Et cum transiret Jesus, vidit hominem sedentem ad telonium,
nomine Malthaeum, et vocavit eum. At ille confestim surgens, secutus est
eum. Et quis ergo de seipso scribens, dicat, Vidit hominem, et vocavit eum,
et secutus est eum : ac non potius dicat, Vidit me, et secutus sunri : nisi quia
constat heec Matthseum non scripsisse, sed alium nescio quem sub ejus nomine ?
&c. Id. 1. 17. c. 1.
' Vid. Joseph, de B. J. 1. 2. c. 20. n. 4, 5, et passim.
" Sed non usque adeo imperitum putaverim, ut nee legerit, nee audierit,
solere scriptores rerum gestarum, cum in suam personam venerint, ita se con-
texere tanquam de aHo narrant, quod de se narrant. Conlr. Faust. 1. 17. c. 4.
» -qui etiam de evangehco [al. evangeho,] tantae auctorilatis
culmine omnibus noto, mentiri sic audet, ut non Matthaeum, ne apostohci
nominis pondere comprimatur, sed nescio quem ahum sub Matthaei nomine,
veht putari scripsisse de Christo, quod non vult credere, et quod calumniosa
versutia refutare conatur. Aug. contr. Faust. 1. 23. c. 6,