Questions on the Four Books of Sentences

Regarding the sixth concerning the irrationality of individual errors

Pagans

Thus: What will pagans adduce for their idolatry, worshiping the works of their own hands, in which there is no divinity, as the philosophers sufficiently show? What will the Saracens, the most vile pigs, the disciples of Machomet Muhammad, allege for their scriptures, expecting for beatitude what suits the heart: namely, gluttony and sexual intercourse? The philosopher Avicenna who was, as it were, of that sect, despising this promise, Avicenna, Metaphysics, book 9, chapter 7, asserts another end as the perfection and more congruent to man, saying: "Our law, which Machomet gave, shows the disposition of happiness and misery which are according to the body, and there is another promise that the intellect grasps." And he follows there: "The wise had more desire to attain this happiness than that of the bodies, if one could give it to them; yet they do not attend to, nor have they appreciated, that operation of happiness which is the conjunction with the First Truth." What will the Jews do, who condemn the New Testament which their Old Testament promises, as the Apostle shows to the Hebrews? Even that they are lacking in their ceremonies without Christ, and Christ having arrived, and thus the New Testament is principally promulgated by him, just as their prophets show it should be received as authentic. "The scepter," says Jacob, Genesis 49, "shall not be taken away from Judah, nor the leader from his thigh," etc., and similarly that of Daniel: "When the Holy of Holies shall come." What fables do the Manicheans weave, considering themselves the first evil, even if they were not the first, yet truly they would be very evil? Do they not see that every being, as being, is good? Could they not even see in the New Testament that the Old is authentic and approved? What about individual other heretics who have poorly understood one word of scripture? According to Augustine in "83 Questions," question 69: "No error," he says, "can arise, masked by the name of Christian, unless from scriptures not understood." And this because they did not bring forward the preceding and following passages. Hence, ibid., 1: "Circumstance of the scriptures is wont to illuminate the meaning." Nor did they bring forward other places of the scriptures. Hence, heresies have arisen by reading and comparing, but they have been repelled by those who brought forward diverse meanings which, from themselves, could be mutually seen how and in what way they were to be understood. Against these is that saying of Augustine "Against the Letter of Mani": "I would not believe," he says, "in the Gospel unless I believed the Catholic Church." Therefore, it is irrational to receive something of the canon and not another, since the Catholic Church, by believing whom I receive the canon, receives the whole equally. Also, to relate anything of the doctrine of the philosophers is irrational, as is proven regarding diverse polities ordered by diverse philosophers, Aristotle, "Politics," book 2. But also, their own doctrine in certain things is irrational, as was apparent from the solution of the preceding question.

Regarding the seventh concerning the stability of the Church

Regarding the head of the Church, through that of Augustine "On the Profit of Believing," near the end: "Do we hesitate to repose in the bosom of that Church which, up to the consummation of the human race, from the Apostolic See through the successions of bishops, while heretics bark in vain, has obtained the summit of authority?" And shortly after: "What else is it that can be so ungrateful to divine operation and aid as to wish to resist such great authority?" Whence Gamaliel, Acts 5: "If this counsel or this work is of men, it will be dissolved. But if it is of God, you will not be able to dissolve it, lest perhaps you seem to be fighting against God." And Luke 22, the Lord says to Peter: "I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail; and you, once converted, confirm your brothers." That saying of Augustine, "On the Profit of Believing," 8: "A multitude of men and women..." A similar meaning, says Augustine, "Against the Letter of Mani". For who would induce such a great multitude to the pains of sin, to a law contrary to flesh and blood to be kept, unless it were God? And he confirms this because the sect of the Jews does not remain in vigor, and thus he objects to them, Augustine in the first sermon on the Advent. "I summon you," he says, "O Jews." If it is objected regarding the permanence of the sect of Machomet, I answer: that began more than six hundred years after the law of Christ, and in a short time it was measured in the year of Christ 1300, and its followers are many dead and most have been put to flight.