Early Church Fathers

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 4

Edited by Philip Schaff · AD 388–420 (English edition 1886–89)

Augustine’s writings against the Manichaeans and against the Donatists, on the origin of evil and on baptism and the church.

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Early Church Fathers

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 4

Edited by Philip Schaff · AD 388–420 (English edition 1886–89)

Augustine’s writings against the Manichaeans and against the Donatists, on the origin of evil and on baptism and the church.

Start reading

Reading on more than one device? Sign in and your place in NPNF 1.4 follows you.

Introductory Essay on the Manichæan Heresy, By Albert H. Newman, D.D., LL.D

Chapter I.—Literature210 pages

I. Sources
II. Modern Works
Chapter II.—Philosophical Basis, and Antecedents of Manichæism
Chapter III.—The Manichæan System
Chapter IV.—Relation of Manichæism to Zoroastrianism
Chapter V.—The Relation of Manichæism to the Old Babylonian Religion as Seen in Mandæism and Sabeanism
Chapter VI.—The Relation of Manichæism to Buddhism
Chapter VII.—The Relation of Manichæism to Judaism
Chapter VIII.—The Relation of Manichæism to Christianity
Chapter IX.—Augustin and the Manichæans
Chapter X.—Outline of Manichæan History
Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings
Of the Morals of the Catholic Church
Chapter 1.—How the Pretensions of the Manichæans are to Be Refuted. Two Manichæan Falsehoods
Chapter 2.—He Begins with Arguments, in Compliance with the Mistaken Method of the Manichæans
Chapter 3.—Happiness is in the Enjoyment of Man's Chief Good. Two Conditions of the Chief Good: 1st, Nothing is Better Than It; 2d, It Cannot Be Lost Against the Will
Chapter 4.—Man—What?
Chapter 5.—Man's Chief Good is Not the Chief Good of the Body Only, But the Chief Good of the Soul
Chapter 6.—Virtue Gives Perfection to the Soul; The Soul Obtains Virtue by Following God; Following God is the Happy Life
Chapter 7.—The Knowledge of God to Be Obtained from the Scripture. The Plan and Principal Mysteries of the Divine Scheme of Redemption
Chapter 8.—God is the Chief Good, Whom We are to Seek After with Supreme Affection
Chapter 9.—Harmony of the Old and New Testament on the Precepts of Charity
Chapter 10.—What the Church Teaches About God. The Two Gods of the Manichæans
Chapter 11.—God is the One Object of Love; Therefore He is Man's Chief Good. Nothing is Better Than God. God Cannot Be Lost Against Our Will
Chapter 12.—We are United to God by Love, in Subjection to Him
Chapter 13.—We are Joined Inseparably to God by Christ and His Spirit
Chapter 14.—We Cleave to the Trinity, Our Chief Good, by Love
Chapter 15.—The Christian Definition of the Four Virtues
Chapter 16.—Harmony of the Old and New Testaments
Chapter 17.—Appeal to the Manichæans, Calling on Them to Repent
Chapter 18.—Only in the Catholic Church is Perfect Truth Established on the Harmony of Both Testaments
Chapter 19.—Description of the Duties of Temperance, According to the Sacred Scriptures
Chapter 20.—We are Required to Despise All Sensible Things, and to Love God Alone
Chapter 21.—Popular Renown and Inquisitiveness are Condemned in the Sacred Scriptures
Chapter 22.—Fortitude Comes from the Love of God
Chapter 23.—Scripture Precepts and Examples of Fortitude
Chapter 24.—Of Justice and Prudence
Chapter 25.—Four Moral Duties Regarding the Love of God, of Which Love the Reward is Eternal Life and the Knowledge of the Truth
Chapter 26.—Love of Ourselves and of Our Neighbor
Chapter 27.—On Doing Good to the Body of Our Neighbor
Chapter 28.—On Doing Good to the Soul of Our Neighbor. Two Parts of Discipline, Restraint and Instruction. Through Good Conduct We Arrive at the Knowledge of the Truth
Chapter 29.—Of the Authority of the Scriptures
Chapter 30.—The Church Apostrophised as Teacher of All Wisdom. Doctrine of the Catholic Church
Chapter 31.—The Life of the Anachoretes and Coenobites Set Against the Continence of the Manichæans
Chapter 32.—Praise of the Clergy
Chapter 33.—Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities. Fasts of Three Days
Chapter 34.—The Church is Not to Be Blamed for the Conduct of Bad Christians, Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures
Chapter 35.—Marriage and Property Allowed to the Baptized by the Apostles
On the Morals of the Manichæans
Chapter 1.—The Supreme Good is that Which is Possessed of Supreme Existence
Chapter 2.—What Evil is. That Evil is that Which is Against Nature. In Allowing This, the Manichæans Refute Themselves
Chapter 3.—If Evil is Defined as that Which is Hurtful, This Implies Another Refutation of the Manichæans
Chapter 4.—The Difference Between What is Good in Itself and What is Good by Participation
Chapter 5.—If Evil is Defined to Be Corruption, This Completely Refutes the Manichæan Heresy
Chapter 6.—What Corruption Affects and What It is
Chapter 7.—The Goodness of God Prevents Corruption from Bringing Anything to Non-Existence. The Difference Between Creating and Forming
Chapter 8.—Evil is Not a Substance, But a Disagreement Hostile to Substance
Chapter 9.—The Manichæan Fictions About Things Good and Evil are Not Consistent with Themselves
Chapter 10.—Three Moral Symbols Devised by the Manichæans for No Good
Chapter 11.—The Value of the Symbol of the Mouth Among the Manichæans, Who are Found Guilty of Blaspheming God
Chapter 12.—Manichæan Subterfuge
Chapter 13.—Actions to Be Judged of from Their Motive, Not from Externals. Manichæan Abstinence to Be Tried by This Principle
Chapter 14.—Three Good Reasons for Abstaining from Certain Kinds of Food
Chapter 15.—Why the Manichæans Prohibit the Use of Flesh
Chapter 16.—Disclosure of the Monstrous Tenets of the Manichæans
Chapter 17.—Description of the Symbol of the Hands Among the Manichæans
Chapter 18.—Of the Symbol of the Breast, and of the Shameful Mysteries of the Manichæans
Chapter 19.—Crimes of the Manichæans
Chapter 20.—Disgraceful Conduct Discovered at Rome
Concerning Two Souls, Against the Manichæans
Chapter 2.—If the Light that is Perceived by Sense Has God for Its Author, as the Manichæans Acknowledge, Much More The Soul Which is Perceived by Intellect Alone
Chapter 3.—How It is Proved that Every Body Also is from God. That the Soul Which is Called Evil by the Manichæans is Better Than Light
Chapter 4.—Even the Soul of a Fly is More Excellent Than the Light
Chapter 5.—How Vicious Souls, However Worthy of Condemnation They May Be, Excel the Light Which is Praiseworthy in Its Kind
Chapter 7.—How Evil Men are of God, and Not of God
Chapter 10.—Sin is Only from the Will. His Own Life and Will Best Known to Each Individual. What Will is
Chapter 11.—What Sin is
Chapter 14.—Again It is Shown from the Utility of Repenting that Souls are Not by Nature Evil. So Sure a Demonstration is Not Contradicted Except from the Habit of Erring
Chapter 15.—He Prays for His Friends Whom He Has Had as Associates in Error
Acts or Disputation
Disputation of the Second Day
Against the Epistle of Manichæus Called Fundamental
Chapter 2.—Why the Manichæans Should Be More Gently Dealt with
Chapter 3.—Augustin Once a Manichæan
Chapter 4.—Proofs of the Catholic Faith
Chapter 5.—Against the Title of the Epistle of Manichæus
Chapter 6.—Why Manichæus Called Himself an Apostle of Christ
Chapter 7.—In What Sense the Followers of Manichæus Believe Him to Be the Holy Spirit
Chapter 8.—The Festival of the Birth-Day of Manichæus
Chapter 9.—When the Holy Spirit Was Sent
Chapter 10.—The Holy Spirit Twice Given
Chapter 11.—Manichæus Promises Truth, But Does Not Make Good His Word
Chapter 12.—The Wild Fancies of Manichæus. The Battle Before the Constitution of the World
Chapter 13.—Two Opposite Substances. The Kingdom of Light. Manichæus Teaches Uncertainties Instead of Certainties
Chapter 14.—Manichæus Promises the Knowledge of Undoubted Things, and Then Demands Faith in Doubtful Things
Chapter 16.—The Soul, Though Mutable, Has No Material Form. It is All Present in Every Part of the Body
Chapter 17.—The Memory Contains the Ideas of Places of the Greatest Size
Chapter 18.—The Understanding Judges of the Truth of Things, and of Its Own Action
Chapter 19.—If the Mind Has No Material Extension, Much Less Has God
Chapter 20.—Refutation of the Absurd Idea of Two Territories
Chapter 21.—This Region of Light Must Be Material If It is Joined to the Region of Darkness. The Shape of the Region of Darkness Joined to the Region of Light
Chapter 22.—The Form of the Region of Light the Worse of the Two
Chapter 23.—The Anthropomorphites Not So Bad as the Manichæans
Chapter 24.—Of the Number of Natures in the Manichæan Fiction
Chapter 25.—Omnipotence Creates Good Things Differing in Degree. In Every Description Whatsoever of the Junction of the Two Regions There is Either Impropriety or Absurdity
Chapter 26.—The Manichæans are Reduced to the Choice of a Tortuous, or Curved, or Straight Line of Junction. The Third Kind of Line Would Give Symmetry and Beauty Suitable to Both Regions
Chapter 28.—Manichæus Places Five Natures in the Region of Darkness
Chapter 29.—The Refutation of This Absurdity
Chapter 30.—The Number of Good Things in Those Natures Which Manichæus Places in the Region of Darkness
Chapter 31.—The Same Subject Continued
Chapter 32.—Manichæus Got the Arrangement of His Fanciful Notions from Visible Objects
Chapter 33.—Every Nature, as Nature, is Good
Chapter 34.—Nature Cannot Be Without Some Good. The Manichæans Dwell Upon the Evils
Chapter 35.—Evil Alone is Corruption. Corruption is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature. Corruption Implies Previous Good
Chapter 36.—The Source of Evil or of Corruption of Good
Chapter 37.—God Alone Perfectly Good
Chapter 38.—Nature Made by God; Corruption Comes from Nothing
Chapter 39.—In What Sense Evils are from God
Chapter 40.—Corruption Tends to Non-Existence
Chapter 41.—Corruption is by God's Permission, and Comes from Us
Chapter 42.—Exhortation to the Chief Good
Chapter 43.—Conclusion
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. [Contra Faustum Manichæum.] a.d. 400
Book I
Book II
Book III
Book IV
Book V
Book VI
Book VII
Book VIII
Book IX
Book X
Book XI
Book XII (part 1 of 2)
Book XII (part 2 of 2)
Book XIII
Book XIV
Book XV
Book XVI (part 1 of 2)
Book XVI (part 2 of 2)
Book XVII
Book XVIII
Book XIX (part 1 of 2)
Book XIX (part 2 of 2)
Book XX
Book XXI
Book XXII (part 1 of 4)
Book XXII (part 2 of 4)
Book XXII (part 3 of 4)
Book XXII (part 4 of 4)
Book XXIII
Book XXIV
Book XXV
Book XXVI
Book XXVII
Book XXVIII
Book XXIX
Book XXX
Book XXXI
Book XXXII
Book XXXIII
Chapter 1.—God the Highest and Unchangeable Good, from Whom are All Other Good Things, Spiritual and Corporeal
Chapter 2.—How This May Suffice for Correcting the Manichæans
Chapter 3.—Measure, Form, and Order, Generic Goods in Things Made by God
Chapter 4.—Evil is Corruption of Measure, Form, or Order
Chapter 5.—The Corrupted Nature of a More Excellent Order Sometimes Better Than an Inferior Nature Even Uncorrupted
Chapter 6.—Nature Which Cannot Be Corrupted is the Highest Good; That Which Can, is Some Good
Chapter 7.—The Corruption of Rational Spirits is on the One Hand Voluntary, on the Other Penal
Chapter 8.—From the Corruption and Destruction of Inferior Things is the Beauty of the Universe
Chapter 9.—Punishment is Constituted for the Sinning Nature that It May Be Rightly Ordered
Chapter 10.—Natures Corruptible, Because Made of Nothing
Chapter 11.—God Cannot Suffer Harm, Nor Can Any Other Nature Except by His Permission
Chapter 12.—All Good Things are from God Alone
Chapter 13.—Individual Good Things, Whether Small or Great, are from God
Chapter 14.—Small Good Things in Comparison with Greater are Called by Contrary Names
Chapter 15.—In the Body of the Ape the Good of Beauty is Present, Though in a Less Degree
Chapter 16.—Privations in Things are Fittingly Ordered by God
Chapter 17.—Nature, in as Far as It is Nature, No Evil
Chapter 18.—Hyle, Which Was Called by the Ancients the Formless Material of Things, is Not an Evil
Chapter 19.—To Have True Existence is an Exclusive Prerogative of God
Chapter 20.—Pain Only in Good Natures
Chapter 21.—From Measure Things are Said to Be Moderate-Sized
Chapter 22.—Measure in Some Sense is Suitable to God Himself
Chapter 23.—Whence a Bad Measure, a Bad Form, a Bad Order May Sometimes Be Spoken of
Chapter 24.—It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable. The Son of God Begotten, Not Made
Chapter 25.—This Last Expression Misunderstood by Some
Chapter 26.—That Creatures are Made of Nothing
Chapter 27.—"From Him" And "Of Him" Do Not Mean The Same Thing
Chapter 28.—Sin Not From God, But From The Will of Those Sinning
Chapter 29.—That God is Not Defiled by Our Sins
Chapter 30.—That Good Things, Even the Least, and Those that are Earthly, are by God
Chapter 31.—To Punish and to Forgive Sins Belong Equally to God
Chapter 32.—From God Also is the Very Power to Be Hurtful
Chapter 33.—That Evil Angels Have Been Made Evil, Not by God, But by Sinning
Chapter 34.—That Sin is Not the Striving for an Evil Nature, But the Desertion of a Better
Chapter 35.—The Tree Was Forbidden to Adam Not Because It Was Evil, But Because It Was Good for Man to Be Subject to God
Chapter 36.—No Creature of God is Evil, But to Abuse a Creature of God is Evil
Chapter 37.—God Makes Good Use of the Evil Deeds of Sinners
Chapter 38.—Eternal Fire Torturing the Wicked, Not Evil
Chapter 39.—Fire is Called Eternal, Not as God Is, But Because Without End
Chapter 40.—Neither Can God Suffer Hurt, Nor Any Other, Save by the Just Ordination of God
Chapter 41.—How Great Good Things the Manichæans Put in the Nature of Evil, and How Great Evil Things in the Nature of Good
Chapter 42.—Manichæan Blasphemies Concerning the Nature of God
Chapter 43.—Many Evils Before His Commingling with Evil are Attributed to the Nature of God by the Manichæans
Chapter 44.—Incredible Turpitudes in God Imagined by Manichæus
Chapter 45.—Certain Unspeakable Turpitudes Believed, Not Without Reason, Concerning the Manichæans Themselves
Chapter 46.—The Unspeakable Doctrine of the Fundamental Epistle
Chapter 47.—He Compels to the Perpetration of Horrible Turpitudes
Chapter 48.—Augustin Prays that the Manichæans May Be Restored to Their Senses

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 4

Contents

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 4

Contents

Introductory Essay on the Manichæan Heresy, By Albert H. Newman, D.D., LL.D