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,”76    See De Ag. Christ. § 4. 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.”77    Eph. v. 25–28 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.”78    Eph. v. 29 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,”79    Gal. v. 17 and, “There dwelleth not in my flesh any good;”80    Rom. vii. 18 so read ye, “No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ the Church.”81    Eph. v. 29 As ye read, “I see another law in my members, opposed to the law of my mind;”82    Rom. vii. 23 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.

CAPUT IX.

22. Carnem natura non esse malam, cum ejus exemplo diligendas uxores hortetur Apostolus. Tres copulae insinuatae ab Apostolo, omnes bonae, quarum tertia est carnis et spiritus. Mulieri subjectionis exemplum a carne cur non datum. Quo igitur, non dico, errore, sed prorsus furore, Manichaei carnem nostram nescio cui fabulosae genti tribuunt tenebrarum, quam volunt suam sine ullo initio malam semper habuisse naturam: cum verax doctor viros diligere uxores suas exemplo suae carnis hortetur, quos ad hoc ipsum Christi quoque et Ecclesiae hortatur exemplo? Totus denique ipse apostolicae Epistolae locus, valde ad rem pertinens, recordandus est: Viri, inquit, diligite uxores vestras, sicut et Christus dilexit Ecclesiam, et se ipsum tradidit pro ea, ut eam sanctificaret, mundans lavacro aquae in verbo; ut exhiberet sibi ipse gloriosam Ecclesiam, non habentem maculam, aut rugam, aut aliquid hujusmodi; sed ut 0364 sit sancta et immaculata. Ita, inquit, et viri debent diligere uxores suas, sicut corpora sua. Qui diligit uxorem suam, se ipsum diligit (Ephes. V, 25-29). Deinde subjunxit, quod jam commemoravimus: Nemo enim unquam carnem suam odio habuit, sed nutrit et fovet eam, sicut et Christus Ecclesiam. Quid ad haec dicit immundissimae impietatis insania? Quid ad haec dicitis, Manichaei? qui nobis velut ex apostolicis Litteris duas sine initio naturas, unam boni, alteram mali, conamini inducere; et apostolicas Litteras, quae vos ab ista sacrilega perversitate corrigant, non vultis audire. Sicut legitis, Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum (Galat. V, 17); et, Non habitat in carne mea bonum: ita legite, Nemo unquam carnem suam odio habuit, sed nutrit et fovet eam, sicut et Christus Ecclesiam. Sicut legitis, Video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae (Rom. VII, 18, 23): ita legite, Sicut Christus dilexit Ecclesiam, ita et viri debent diligere uxores suas, sicut sua corpora. Nolite in illis sanctae Scripturae testimoniis esse insidiosi, in his surdi; et eritis in utrisque correcti. Haec enim si accipiatis ut dignum est, conabimini et illa intelligere ut verum est.