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Why, then, cannot God effect both that the bodies of the dead shall
rise, and that the bodies of the damned shall be tormented in
everlasting fire, God, who made the world full of countless miracles
in sky, earth, air and waters, while itself is a miracle
unquestionably greater and more admirable than all the marvels it is
filled with? But those with whom or against whom we are arguing, who
believe both that there is a God who made the world, and that there
are gods created by Him who administer the world's laws as His
viceregents, our adversaries, I say, who, so far from denying
emphatically, assert that there are powers in the world which effect
marvellous results (whether of their own accord, or because they are
invoked by some rite or prayer, or in some magical way), when we lay
before them the wonderful properties of other things which are neither
rational animals nor rational spirits, but such material objects as
those we have just cited, are in the habit of replying, This is their
natural property, their nature; these are the powers naturally
belonging to them. Thus the whole reason why Agrigentine salt
dissolves in fire and crackles in water is that this is its nature Yet
this seems rather contrary to nature, which has given not to fire but
to water the power of melting salt, and the power of scorching it not
to water but to fire. But this they say, is the natural property of
this salt, to show effects contrary to these. The same reason,
therefore, is assigned to account for that Garamantian fountain, of
which one and the same runlet is chill by day and boiling by night, so
that in either extreme it cannot be touched. So also of that other
fountain which, though it is cold to the touch, and though it, like
other fountains, extinguishes a lighted torch, yet, unlike other
fountains, and in a surprising manner, kindles an extinguished torch.
So of the asbestos stone, which, though it has no heat of its own,
yet when kindled by fire applied to it, cannot be extinguished. And
so of the rest, which I am weary of reciting, and in which, though
there seems to be an extraordinary property contrary to nature, yet no
other reason is given for them than this, that this is their nature, a
brief reason truly, and, I own, a satisfactory reply. But since
God is the author of all natures, how is it that our adversaries,
when they refuse to believe what we affirm, on the ground that it is
impossible, are unwilling to accept from us a better explanation than
their own, viz., that this is the will of Almighty God, for
certainly He is called Almighty only because He is mighty to do all
He will, He who was able to create so many marvels, not only
unknown, but very well ascertained, as I have been showing, and
which, were they not under our own observation, or reported by recent
and credible witnesses, would certainly be pronounced impossible? For
as for those marvels which have no other testimony than the writers in
whose books we read them, and who wrote without being divinely
instructed, and are therefore liable to human error, we cannot justly
blame any one who declines to believe them.
For my own part, I do not wish all the marvels I have cited to be
rashly accepted, for I do not myself believe them implicitly, save
those which have either come under my own observation, or which any one
can readily verify, such as the lime which is heated by water and
cooled by oil; the magnet which by its mysterious and insensible
suction attracts the iron, but has no affect on a straw; the
peacock's flesh which triumphs over the corruption from which not the
flesh of Plato is exempt; the chaff so chilling that it prevents snow
from melting, so heating that it forces apples to ripen; the glowing
fire, which, in accordance with its glowing appearance, whitens the
stones it bakes, while; contrary to its glowing appearance, it
begrimes most things it burns (just as dirty stains are made by oil,
however pure it be, and as the lines drawn by white silver are
black); the charcoal, too, which by the action of fire is so
completely changed from its original, that a finely marked piece of
wood becomes hideous, the tough becomes brittle, the decaying
incorruptible. Some of these things I know in common with many other
persons, some of them in common with all men; and there are many
others which I have not room to insert in this book. But of those
which I have cited, though I have not myself seen, but only read
about them, I have been unable to find trustworthy witnesses from whom
I could ascertain whether they are facts, except in the case of that
fountain in which burning torches are extinguished and extinguished
torches lit, and of the apples of Sodom, which are ripe to
appearance, but are filled with dust. And indeed I have not met with
any who said they had seen that fountain in Epirus, but with some who
knew there was a similar fountain in Gaul not far from Grenoble. The
fruit of the trees of Sodom, however, is not only spoken of in books
worthy of credit, but so many persons say that they have seen it that
I cannot doubt the fact. But the rest of the prodigies I receive
without definitely affirming or denying them; and I have cited them
because I read them in the authors of our adversaries, and that I
might prove how many things many among themselves believe, because they
are written in the works of their own literary men, though no rational
explanation of them is given, and yet they scorn to believe us when we
assert that Almighty God will do what is beyond their experience and
observation; and this they do even though we assign a reason for His
work. For what better and stronger reason for such things can be given
than to say that the Almighty is able to bring them to pass, and will
bring them to pass, having predicted them in those books in which many
other marvels which have already come to pass were predicted? Those
things which are regarded as impossible will be accomplished according
to the word, and by the power of that God who predicted and effected
that the incredulous nations should believe incredible wonders.
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