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But if they reply that their reason for not believing us when we say
that human bodies will always burn and vet never die, is that the
nature of human bodies is known to be quite otherwise constituted; if
they say that for this miracle we cannot give the reason which was valid
in the case of those natural miracles, viz., that this is the natural
property, the nature of the thing, for we know that this is not the
nature of human flesh, we find our answer in the sacred writings, that
even this human flesh was constituted in one fashion before there was
sin, was constituted, in fact, so that it could not die, and in
another fashion after sin, being made such as we see it in this
miserable state of mortality, unable to retain enduring life. And so
in the resurrection of the dead shall it be constituted differently from
its present well-known condition. But as they do not believe these
writings of ours, in which we read what nature man had in paradise,
and how remote he was from the necessity of death, and indeed, if they
did believe them, we should of course have little trouble in debating
with them the future punishment of the damned, we must produce from the
writings of their own most learned authorities some instances to show
that it is possible for a thing to become different from what it was
formerly known characteristically to be.
From the book of Marcus Varro, entitled, Of the Race of the
Roman People, I cite word for word the following instance: "There
occurred a remarkable celestial portent; for Castor records that, in
the brilliant star Venus, called Vesperugo by Plautus, and the
lovely Hesperus by Homer, there occurred so strange a prodigy, that
it changed its color, size, form, course, which never happened
before nor since. Adrastus of Cyzicus, and Dion of Naples, famous
mathematicians, said that this occurred in the reign of Ogyges." So
great an author as Varro would certainly not have called this a portent
had it not seemed to he contrary to nature. For we say that all
portents are contrary to nature; but they are not so. For how is that
contrary to nature which happens by the will of God, since the will of
so mighty a Creator is certainly the nature of each created thing? A
portent, therefore, happens not contrary to nature, but contrary to
what we know as nature. But who can number the multitude of portents
recorded in profane histories? Let us then at present fix our
attention on this one only which concerns the matter in hand. What is
there so arranged by the Author of the nature of heaven and earth as
the exactly ordered course of the stars? What is there established by
laws so sure and inflexible? And yet, when it pleased Him who with
sovereignty and supreme power regulates all He has created, a star
conspicuous among the rest by its size and splendor changed its color,
size, form, and, most wonderful of all, the order and law of its
course! Certainly that phenomenon disturbed the canons of the
astronomers, if there were any then, by which they tabulate, as by
unerring computation, the past and future movements of the stars, so
as to take upon them to affirm that this which happened to the morning
star (Venus) never happened before nor since. But we read in the
divine books that even the sun itself stood still when a holy man,
Joshua the son of Nun, had begged this from God until victory should
finish the battle he had begun; and that it even went back, that the
promise of fifteen years added to the life of king Hezekiah might be
sealed by this additional prodigy. But these miracles, which were
vouchsafed to the merits of holy men, even when our adversaries believe
them, they attribute to magical arts; so Virgil, in the lines I
quoted above, ascribes to magic the power to "Turn rivers backward to
their source, And make the stars forget their course."
For in our sacred books we read that this also happened, that a river
"turned backward," was stayed above while the lower part flowed on,
when the people passed over under the above-mentioned leader, Joshua
the son of Nun; and also when Elias the prophet crossed; and
afterwards, when his disciple Elisha passed through it: and we have
just mentioned how, in the case of king Hezekiah the greatest of the
"stars forgot its course." But what happened to Venus, according
to Varro, was not said by him to have happened in answer to any man's
prayer.
Let not the sceptics then benight themselves in this knowledge of the
nature of things, as if divine power cannot bring to pass in an object
anything else than what their own experience has shown them to be in its
nature. Even the very things which are most commonly known as natural
would not be less wonderful nor less effectual to excite surprise in all
who beheld them, if men were not accustomed to admire nothing but what
is rare. For who that thoughtfully observes the countless multitude of
men, and their similarity of nature, can fail to remark with surprise
and admiration the individuality of each man's appearance, suggesting
to us, as it does, that unless men were like one another, they would
not be distinguished from the rest of the animals; while unless, on
the other hand, they were unlike, they could not be distinguished from
one another, so that those whom we declare to be like, we also find to
be unlike? And the unlikeness is the more wonderful consideration of
the two; for a common nature seems rather to require similarity. And
yet, because the very rarity of things is that which makes them
wonderful, we are filled with much greater wonder when we are
introduced to two men so like, that we either always or frequently
mistake in endeavoring to distinguish between them.
But possibly, though Varro is a heathen historian, and a very
learned one, they may disbelieve that what I have cited from him truly
occurred; or they may say the example is invalid, because the star did
not for any length of time continue to follow its new course, but
returned to its ordinary orbit. There is, then, another phenomenon
at present open to their observation, and which, m my opinion, ought
to be sufficient to convince them that, though they have observed and
ascertained some natural law, they ought not on that account to
prescribe to God, as if He could not change and turn it into
something very different from what they have observed. The land of
Sodom was not always as it now is; but once it had the appearance of
other lands, and enjoyed equal if not richer fertility; for, in the
divine narrative, it was compared to the paradise of God. But after
it was touched [by fire] from heaven, as even pagan history
testifies, and as is now witnessed by those who visit the spot, it
became unnaturally and horribly sooty in appearance; and its apples,
under a deceitful appearance of ripeness, contain ashes within. Here
is a thing which was of one kind, and is of another. You see how its
nature was converted by the wonderful transmutation wrought by the
Creator of all natures into so very disgusting a diversity, an
alteration which after so long a time took place, and after so long a
time still continues. As therefore it was not impossible to God to
create such natures as He pleased, so it is not impossible to Him to
change these natures of His own creation into whatever He pleases,
and thus spread abroad a multitude of those marvels which are called
monsters, portents, prodigies, phenomena, and which if I were
minded to cite and record, what end would there be to this work? They
say that they are called "monsters," because they demonstrate or
signify something; "portents," because they portend something; and
so forth. But let their diviners see how they are either deceived, or
even when they do predict true things, it is because they are inspired
by spirits, who are intent upon entangling the minds of men (worthy,
indeed, of such a fate) in the meshes of a hurtful curiosity, or how
they light now and then upon some truth, because they make so many
predictions. Yet, for our part, these things which happen contrary
to nature, and are said to be contrary to nature (as the apostle,
speaking after the manner of men, says, that to graft the wild olive
into the good olive, and to partake of its fatness, is contrary to
nature), and are called monsters, phenomena, portents, prodigies,
ought to demonstrate, portend, predict that God will bring to pass
what He has foretold regarding the bodies of men, no difficulty
preventing Him, no law of nature prescribing to Him His limit. How
He has foretold what He is to do, I think I have sufficiently shown
in the preceding book, culling from the sacred Scriptures, both of
the New and Old Testaments, not, indeed, all the passages that
relate to this, but as many as I judged to suffice for this work.
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