22. I say not, therefore,
with what error, but with what utter madness, do the Manichees
attribute our flesh to some, I know not what, fabled “race of
darkness,”1882
which they
will have hath had its own
nature without any beginning ever
evil:
whereas the true
teacher exhorts men to
love their own
wives by the
pattern of their own
flesh, and
exhorts them unto this very thing
by the pattern also of
Christ and the
Church. Lastly, we must call
to
mind the whole place itself of the
Epistle of the
Apostle,
relating greatly unto the matter in
hand. “
Husbands,” saith he,
“
love your
wives, as
Christ also
loved the
Church, and
delivered
Himself up for it, that He might
sanctify it, cleansing it by the
laver of the
water in the word: that He might set forth unto
Himself a glorious
Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing, but that it may be holy and unspotted. So,” saith he,
“
husbands also ought to
love their own
wives, as their own
bodies. Whoso loveth his own
wife, loveth himself.”
1883
Then he
added, what we have already made mention of, “For no man ever
hated his own
flesh, but nourisheth it, and cherisheth it; as also
Christ the
Church.”
1884
What saith the madness of most
impure impiety in answer to these things? What say ye in answer to
these things, ye Manichees; ye who wish to bring in upon us, as if
out of the
Epistles of the
Apostles, two natures without beginning,
one of good, the other of
evil: and will not listen to the
Epistles
of the
Apostles, that they may correct you from that sacrilegious
perverseness? As ye read, “The
flesh lusteth against the
spirit,”
1885
and,
“There dwelleth not in my
flesh any good;”
1886
so read ye, “No one ever
hated
his own
flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also
Christ the
Church.”
1887
As ye
read, “I see another
law in my members, opposed to the
law of my
mind;”
1888
so read
ye, “As
Christ loved the
Church, so also ought men to
love their
own
wives, as their own bodies.” Be not ye crafty in the former
witnesses of Holy Scripture, and deaf in this latter, and ye shall
be correct in both. For, if ye receive the latter as right is, ye
will endeavor to understand the former also as truth
is.
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