Authors/Augustine/On the Trinity/On the Trinity Book III

AUGUSTINE'S DE TRINITATE BOOK III

• 3.0 3 Preface.— Why Augustine Writes of the Trinity. What He Claims from Readers. What Has Been Said in the Previous Book.
• 3.1 Utrum cum deus hominibus visus est ipse per assumptam creaturae speciem apparuerit, an vero angeli ex persona ipsius sint locuti. Chapter 1.— What is to Be Said Thereupon.
• 3.2 De mutationibus creaturae sive consuetudinariis sive insolitis quae non fiunt extra potestatem ac sententiam creatoris. Chapter 2.— The Will of God is the Higher Cause of All Corporeal Change. This is Shown by an Example.
• 3.3 Exemplum quo ostenditur omnes causes actionum rationabilium a summa dei voluntate descendere. Chapter 3.— Of the Same Argument.
• 3.4 De providentia dei qua subiectioni sanctorum praesidet angelorum. Chapter 4.— God Uses All Creatures as He Will, and Makes Visible Things for the Manifestation of Himself.
• 3.5 Quod opere dei omnis creature administretur quo et mire multa ordine consuetudinis inserantur. Chapter 5.— Why Miracles are Not Usual Works.
• 3.6 Quod deus omnem creaturam corporalem animare cognoscitur in uteris matrum. Chapter 6.— Diversity Alone Makes a Miracle.
• 3.7 De miraculis quae magicis artibus fiunt. Chapter 7.— Great Miracles Wrought by Magic Arts.
• 3.8 De causis originalibus creaturarum corporalium quas mundo creator inseruit. Chapter 8.— God Alone Creates Those Things Which are Changed by Magic Art.
• 3.9 De significationibus quae ad manifestandam voluntatem dei sive per angelos sive per homines ministrantur. Chapter 9.— The Original Cause of All Things is from God.
• 3.10 Essentiam trinitatis numquam oculis apparuisse mortalium sed per subiectam sibi creaturam significasse quae voluit. Chapter 10.— In How Many Ways the Creature is to Be Taken by Way of Sign. The Eucharist.
• 3.11 Chapter 11.— The Essence of God Never Appeared in Itself. Divine Appearances to the Fathers Wrought by the Ministry of Angels. An Objection Drawn from the Mode of Speech Removed. That the Appearing of God to Abraham Himself, Just as that to Moses, Was Wrought by Angels. The Same Thing is Proved by the Law Being Given to Moses by Angels. What Has Been Said in This Book, and What Remains to Be Said in the Next.

Latin	Latin
LIBER III	On the Trinity (Book III)
	The question is discussed with respect to the appearances of God spoken of in the previous book, which were made under bodily forms, whether only a creature was formed, for the purpose of manifesting God to human sight in such way as He at each time judged fitting; or whether angels, already existing, were so sent as to speak in the person of God; and this, either by assuming a bodily appearance from the bodily creature, or by changing their own bodies into whatever forms they would, suitable to the particular action, according to the power given to them by the Creator; while the essence itself of God was never seen in itself.
[3.0.1] Credant qui volunt malle me legendo quam legenda dictando laborare. Qui autem hoc nolunt credere, experiri vero et possunt et volunt, dent quae legendo vel meis inquisitionibus respondeatur vel interrogationibus aliorum quas pro mea persona quam in seruitio Christi gero et pro studio quo fidem nostram adversus errorem carnalium et animalium hominum muniri inardesco necesse est me pati, et videant quam facile ab isto labore me temperem et quanto etiam gaudio stilum possim habere feriatum. Quod si ea quae legamus de his rebus suffficienter edita in latino sermone aut non sunt aut non inveniuntur aut certe difficile a nobis inveniri queunt, graecae autem linguae non sit nobis tantus habitus ut talium rerum libris legendis et intellegendis ullo modo reperiamur idonei, quo genere litterarum ex his quae nobis pauca interpretata sunt non dubito cuncta quae utiliter quaerere possumus contineri; fratribus autem non valeam resistere iure quo eis seruus factus sum flagitantibus ut eorum in Christo laudabilibus studiis lingua ac stilo meo quas bigas in me caritas agitat maxime seruiam. Egoque ipse multa quae nesciebam scribendo me didicisse confitear, non debet labor hic meus cuiquam pigro aut multum docto videri superfluus cum multis impigris multisque indoctis inter quos etiam mihi non parua ex parte sit necessarius. Ex his igitur quae ab aliis de hac re scripta iam legimus plurimum adminiculati et adiuti ea quae de trinitate uno summo summeque bono deo pie quaeri et disseri posse arbitror ipso exhortante quaerenda atque adivuante disserenda suscepi, ut si alia non sunt huiusmodi scripta, sit quod habeamus, et legant qui voluerint et valuerint; si autem iam sunt, tanto facilius aliqua inveniantur quanto talia plura esse potuerint.	1. I Would have them believe, who are willing to do so, that I had rather bestow labor in reading, than in dictating what others may read. But let those who will not believe this, but are both able and willing to make the trial, grant me whatever answers may be gathered from reading, either to my own inquiries, or to those interrogations of others, which for the character I bear in the service of Christ, and for the zeal with which I burn that our faith may be fortified against the error of carnal and natural men, I must needs bear with; and then let them see how easily I would refrain from this labor, and with how much even of joy I would give my pen a holiday. But if what we have read upon these subjects is either not sufficiently set forth, or is not to be found at all, or at any rate cannot easily be found by us, in the Latin tongue, while we are not so familiar with the Greek tongue as to be found in any way competent to read and understand therein the books that treat of such topics, in which class of writings, to judge by the little which has been translated for us, I do not doubt that everything is contained that we can profitably seek; while yet I cannot resist my brethren when they exact of me, by that law by which I am made their servant, that I should minister above all to their praiseworthy studies in Christ by my tongue and by my pen, of which two yoked together in me, Love is the charioteer; and while I myself confess that I have by writing learned many things which I did not know: if this be so, then this my labor ought not to seem superfluous to any idle, or to any very learned reader; while it is needful in no small part, to many who are busy, and to many who are unlearned,and among these last to myself. Supported, then, very greatly, and aided by the writings we have already read of others on this subject, I have undertaken to inquire into and to discuss, whatever it seems to my judgment can be reverently inquired into and discussed, concerning the Trinity, the one supreme and supremely good God; He himself exhorting me to the inquiry, and helping me in the discussion of it; in order that, if there are no other writings of the kind, there may be something for those to have and read who are willing and capable; but if any exist already, then it may be so much the easier to find some such writings, the more there are of the kind in existence.
[3.0.2] Sane cum in omnibus litteris meis non solum pium lectorem sed etiam liberum correctorem desiderem, multo maxime in his ubi ipsa magnitudo quaestionis utinam tam multos inventores habere posset quam multos contradictores habet. Verumtamen sicut lectorem meum nolo esse mihi deditum, ita correctorem nolo sibi. Ille me non amet amplius quam catholicam fidem; ille se non amet amplius quam catholicam veritatem. Sicut illi dico: Noli meis litteris quasi scripturis canonicis inseruire, sed in illis et quod non credebas cum inveneris incunctanter crede, in istis autem quod certum non habebas nisi certum intellexeris noli firme retinere; ita illi dico: Noli meas litteras ex tua opinione vel contentione sed ex divina lectione vel inconcussa ratione corrigere; si quid in eis veri comprehenderis, exsistendo non est meum at intellegendo et amando et tuum sit et meum; si quid autem falsi conuiceris, errando fuerit meum sed iam cavendo nec tuum sit nec meum.	2. Assuredly, as in all my writings I desire not only a pious reader, but also a free corrector, so I especially desire this in the present inquiry, which is so important that I would there were as many inquirers as there are objectors. But as I do not wish my reader to be bound down to me, so I do not wish my corrector to be bound down to himself. Let not the former love me more than the catholic faith, let not the latter love himself more than the catholic verity. As I say to the former, Do not be willing to yield to my writings as to the canonical Scriptures; but in these, when you have discovered even what you did not previously believe, believe it unhesitatingly; while in those, unless you have understood with certainty what you did not before hold as certain, be unwilling to hold it fast: so I say to the latter, Do not be willing to amend my writings by your own opinion or disputation, but from the divine text, or by unanswerable reason. If you apprehend anything of truth in them, its being there does not make it mine, but by understanding and loving it, let it be both yours and mine; but if you convict anything of falsehood, though it have once been mine, in that I was guilty of the error, yet now by avoiding it let it be neither yours nor mine.
[3.0.3] Hinc itaque tertius iste liber sumit exordium quousque secundus peruenerat. Cum enim ad id ventum esset ut vellemus ostendere non ideo minorem patre filium quia ille misit, hic missus est, nec ideo minorem utroque spiritum sanctum quia et ab illo et ab illo missus in euangelio legitur, suscepimus hoc quaerere cum illuc missus sit filius ubi erat quia in hunc mundum venit et in hoc mundo erat, cum illuc etiam spiritus sanctus ubi et ipse erat, quoniam spiritus domini replevit orbem terrarum, et hoc quod continet omnia scientiam habet vocis utrum propterea missus sit dominus quia ex occulto in carne natus est et de sinu patris ad oculos hominum in forma serui tamquam egressus apparuit; ideo etiam spiritus sanctus quia et ipse corporali specie quasi columba visus est et linguis divisis velut ignis; ut hoc eis fuerit mitti, ad aspectum mortalium in aliqua forma corporea de spiritali secreto procedere, quod pater quoniam non fecit tantummodo misisse non etiam missus esse dictus sit. Deinde quaesitum est cur et pater non aliquando dictus sit missus si per illas species corporales quae oculis antiquorum apparuerunt ipse demonstrabatur. Si autem filius tunc demonstrabatur, cur tanto post missus diceretur cum plenitudo temporis venit ut ex femina nasceretur, quandoquidem et antea mittebatur cum in illis formis corporaliter apparebat. Aut si non recte missus diceretur nisi cum verbum caro factum est, cur spiritus sanctus missus legatur cuius incarnatio talis non facta est. Si vero per illas antiquas demonstrationes nec pater nec filius sed spiritus sanctus ostendebatur, cur etiam ipse nunc diceretur missus cum illis modis et antea mitteretur. Deinde subdivisimus ut haec diligentissime tractarentur, et tripertitam fecimus quaestionem cuius una pars in secundo libro explicata est, duae sunt reliquae de quibus deinceps disserere aggrediar. Iam enim quaesitum atque tractatum est in illis antiquis corporalibus formis et visis non tantummodo patrem nec tantummodo filium nec tantummodo spiritum sanctum apparuisse, sed aut indifferenter dominum deum qui trinitas ipsa intellegitur aut quamlibet ex trinitate personam quam lectionis textus indicius circumstantibus significaret.	3. Let this third book, then, take its beginning at the point to which the second had reached. For after we had arrived at this, that we desired to show that the Son was not therefore less than the Father, because the Father sent and the Son was sent; nor the Holy Spirit therefore less than both, because we read in the Gospel that He was sent both by the one and by the other; we undertook then to inquire, since the Son was sent there, where He already was, for He came into the world, and was in the world; since also the Holy Spirit was sent there, where He already was, for the Spirit of the Lord fills the world, and that which contains all things has knowledge of the voice; whether the Lord was therefore sent because He was born in the flesh so as to be no longer hidden, and, as it were, came forth from the bosom of the Father, and appeared to the eyes of men in the form of a servant; and the Holy Spirit also was therefore sent, because He too was seen as a dove in a corporeal form, and in cloven tongues, like as of fire; so that, to be sent, when spoken of them, means to go forth to the sight of mortals in some corporeal form from a spiritual hiding-place; which, because the Father did not, He is said only to have sent, not also to be sent. Our next inquiry was, Why the Father also is not sometimes said to be sent, if He Himself was manifested through those corporeal forms which appeared to the eyes of the ancients. But if the Son was manifested at these times, why should He be said to be sent so long after, when the fullness of time had come that He should be born of a woman; since, indeed, He was sent before also, viz., when He appeared corporeally in those forms? Or if He were not rightly said to be sent, except when the Word was made flesh; why should the Holy Spirit be read of as sent, of whom such an incarnation never took place? But if neither the Father, nor the Son, but the Holy Spirit was manifested through these ancient appearances; why should He too be said to be sent now, when He was also sent before in these various manners? Next we subdivided the subject, that it might be handled most carefully, and we made the question threefold, of which one part was explained in the second book, and two remain, which I shall next proceed to discuss. For we have already inquired and determined, that not only the Father, nor only the Son, nor only the Holy Spirit appeared in those ancient corporeal forms and visions, but either indifferently the Lord God, who is understood to be the Trinity itself, or some one person of the Trinity, whichever the text of the narrative might signify, through intimations supplied by the context.
[3.1.4] Nunc ergo primum quaerimus quod sequitur. Nam secundo loco in illa distributione positum est utrum ad hoc opus tantummodo creatura formata sit in qua deus, sicut tunc oportuisse iudicavit, humanis ostenderetur aspectibus; an angeli qui iam erant ita mittebantur ut ex persona dei loquerentur, assumentes corporalem speciem de creatura corporea in usum ministeru sui; aut ipsum corpus suum cui non subduntur sed subditum regunt mutantes atque vertentes in species quas vellent accommodatas atque aptas actionibus suis secundum attributam sibi a creatore potentiam. Qua parte quaestionis quantum dominus dederit pertractata postremo erit videndum id quod institueramus inquirere, utrum filius et spiritus sanctus et antea mittebantur, et si ita est quid inter illam missionem et eam quam in euangelio legimus distet; an missus non sit aliquis eorum nisi cum vel films factus est ex Maria virgine vel cum spiritus sanctus visibili specie sive in columba sive in igneis linguis apparuit.	4. Let us, then, continue our inquiry now in order. For under the second head in that division the question occurred, whether the creature was formed for that work only, wherein God, in such way as He then judged it to be fitting, might be manifested to human sight; or whether angels, who already existed, were so sent as to speak in the person of God, assuming a corporeal appearance from the corporeal creature for the purpose of their ministry; or else changing and turning their own body itself, to which they are not subject, but govern it as subject to themselves, into whatever forms they would, that were appropriate and fit for their actions, according to the power given to them by the Creator. And when this part of the question shall have been investigated, so far as God permit, then, lastly, we shall have to see to that question with which we started, viz., whether the Son and the Holy Spirit were also sent before; and if it be so, then what difference there is between that sending and the one of which we read in the Gospel; or whether neither of them were sent, except when either the Son was made of the Virgin Mary, or when the Holy Spirit appeared in a visible form, whether as a dove or in tongues of fire.
[3.1.5] Sed fateor excedere vires intentionis meae utrum angeli manente spiritali sui corporis qualitate per hanc occultius operantes assumant ex inferioribus elementis corpulentioribus quod sibi coaptatum quasi aliquam uestem mutent et vertant in quaslibet species corporales etiam ipsas veras sicut aqua vera in verum vinum conversa est a domino, an ipsa propria corpora sua transforment in quod voluerint accommodate ad id quod agunt. Sed quodlibet horum sit ad praesentem quaestionem non pertinet. Et quamvis haec quoniam homo sum nullo experimento possim comprehendere sicut angeli qui haec agunt, et magis ea norunt quam ego novi quatenus mutetur corpus meum in affectu voluntatis meae sive quod in me sive quod ex aliis expertus sum; quid horum tamen ex divinarum scripturarum auctoritatibus credam nunc non opus est dicere ne cogar probare et fiat sermo longior de re qua non indiget praesens quaestio.	5. I confess, however, that it reaches further than my purpose can carry me to inquire whether the angels, secretly working by the spiritual quality of their body abiding still in them, assume somewhat from the inferior and more bodily elements, which, being fitted to themselves, they may change and turn like a garment into any corporeal appearances they will, and those appearances themselves also real, as real water was changed by our Lord into real wine; or whether they transform their own bodies themselves into that which they would, suitably to the particular act. But it does not signify to the present question which of these it is. And although I be not able to understand these things by actual experience, seeing that I am a man, as the angels do who do these things, and know them better than I know them, viz., how far my body is changeable by the operation of my will; whether it be by my own experience of myself, or by that which I have gathered from others; yet it is not necessary here to say which of these alternatives I am to believe upon the authority of the divine Scriptures, lest I be compelled to prove it, and so my discourse become too long upon a subject which does not concern the present question.
[3.1.6] Illud nunc videndum est utrum angeli tunc agebant et illas corporum species apparentes oculis hominum et illas voces auribus insonantes cum ipsa sensibilis creatura ad nutum seruiens conditoris in quod opus erat pro tempore vertebatur sicut in libro sapientiae scriptum est: Creatura enim tibi factori deseruiens extenditur in tormentum adversus iniustos et lenior fit ad benefaciendum his qui in te confidunt. Propter hoc et tunc in omnia se transfigurans omnium nutrici gratiae tuae deseruiebat ad voluntatem horum quia te desiderabant. Pervenit enim potentia voluntatis dei per creaturam spiritalem usque ad effectus visibiles atque sensibiles creaturae corporalis. Ubi enim non operatur quod vult dei omnipotentis sapientia quae pertendit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter?	6. Our present inquiry then is, whether the angels were then the agents both in showing those bodily appearances to the eyes of men and in sounding those words in their ears when the sensible creature itself, serving the Creator at His beck, was turned for the time into whatever was needful; as it is written in the book of Wisdom, For the creature serves You, who art the Maker, increases his strength against the unrighteous for their punishment, and abates his strength for the benefit of such as put their trust in You. Therefore, even then was it altered into all fashions, and was obedient to Your grace, that nourishes all things according to the desire of them that longed for You. For the power of the will of God reaches through the spiritual creature even to visible and sensible effects of the corporeal creature. For where does not the wisdom of the omnipotent God work that which He wills, which reaches from one end to another mightily, and sweetly does order all things?
[3.2.7] Sed alius est ordo naturalis in conversione et mutabilitate corporum qui quamvis etiam ipse ad nutum dei seruiat perseuerantia tamen consuetudinis amisit admirationem, sicuti sunt quae vel brevissimis vel certe non longis interuallis temporum caelo, terra, marique mutantur sive nascentibus sive occidentibus rebus sive alias aliter atque aliter apparentibus; alia vero quamvis ex ipso ordine venientia tamen propter longiora interualla temporum minus usitata, quae licet multi stupeant ab inquisitoribus huius saeculi comprehensa sunt et progressu generationum quo saepius repetita et a pluribus cogmta eo minus mira sunt, sicuti sunt defectus luminarium et raro exsist ent es quae dam species siderum et terrae motus et monstrosi partus animantium et quaeque similia, quorum nihil fit nisi dei voluntate sed plerisque non apparet. Itaque licuit uanitati philosophorum etiam causis alus ea tribuere vel veris sed proximis, cum omnino videre non possent superiorem caeteris omnibus causam, id est voluntatem dei, vel falsis et ne ab ipsa quidem peruestigatione corporalium rerum atque motionum sed a sua suspicione et errore prolatis.	7. But there is one kind of natural order in the conversion and changeableness of bodies, which, although itself also serves the bidding of God, yet by reason of its unbroken continuity has ceased to cause wonder; as is the case, for instance, with those things which are changed either in very short, or at any rate not long, intervals of time, in heaven, or earth, or sea; whether it be in rising, or in setting, or in change of appearance from time to time; while there are other things, which, although arising from that same order, yet are less familiar on account of longer intervals of time. And these things, although the many stupidly wonder at them, yet are understood by those who inquire into this present world, and in the progress of generations become so much the less wonderful, as they are the more often repeated and known by more people. Such are the eclipses of the sun and moon, and some kinds of stars, appearing seldom, and earthquakes, and unnatural births of living creatures, and other similar things; of which not one takes place without the will of God; yet, that it is so, is to most people not apparent. And so the vanity of philosophers has found license to assign these things also to other causes, true causes perhaps, but proximate ones, while they are not able to see at all the cause that is higher than all others, that is, the will of God; or again to false causes, and to such as are not even put forward out of any diligent investigation of corporeal things and motions, but from their own guess and error.
[3.2.8] Dicam si potero quiddam exempli gratia quo haec apertiora sint. Est certe in corpore humano quaedam moles carnis et formae species et ordo distinctioque membrorum et temperatio valetudinis. Hoc corpus inspirata anima regit eademque rationalis, et ideo quamvis mutabilis tamen quae possit illius incommutabilis sapientiae particeps esse ut sit participatio eius in idipsum, sicut in psalmo scriptum est de omnibus sanctis ex quibus tamquam lapidibus vivis aedificatur illa Hierusalem mater nostra aeterna in caelis. Ita enim canitur: Hierusalem quae aedificatur ut civitas, cuius participatio eius in idipsum. Idipsum quippe hoc loco illud summum et incommutabile bonum intellegitur quod deus est atque sapientia voluntasque ipsius, cui cantatur alio loco: Mutabis ea et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es.	8. I will bring forward an example, if I can, that this may be plainer. There is, we know, in the human body, a certain bulk of flesh and an outward form, and an arrangement and distraction of limbs, and a temperament of health; and a soul breathed into it governs this body, and that soul a rational one; which, therefore, although changeable, yet can be partaker of that unchangeable wisdom, so that it may partake of that which is in and of itself; as it is written in the Psalm concerning all saints, of whom as of living stones is built that Jerusalem which is the mother of us all, eternal in the heavens. For so it is sung, Jerusalem is built as a city, that is partaker of that which is in and of itself. For in and of itself, in that place, is understood of that chiefest and unchangeable good, which is God, and of His own wisdom and will. To whom is sung in another place, You shall change them, and they shall be changed; but You are the same.
[3.3.8] Constituamus ergo animo talem sapientem cuius anima rationalis iam sit particeps incommutabilis aeternaeque veritatis quam de omnibus suis actionibus consulat, nec aliquid omnino faciat quod non in ea cognoverit esse faciendum ut ei subditus eique obtemperans recte faciat. Iste si consulta summa ratione divinae iustitiae quam in secreto audiret aure cordis sui eaque sibi iubente in aliquo officio misericordiae corpus labore fatigaret aegritudinemque contraheret, consultisque medicis ab alio diceretur causam morbi esse corporis siccitatem, ab alio autem humoris immoderationem; unus eorum veram causam diceret, alter erraret, uterque tamen de proximis causis, id est corporalibus pronuntiaret. At si illius siccitatis causa quaereretur et inveniretur voluntarius labor, iam ventum esset ad superiorem causam quae ab anima proficisceretur ad afficiendum corpus quod; regit; sed nec ipsa prima esset. Illa enim procul dubio superior erat in ipsa incommutabili sapientia cui hominis sapientis anima in caritate seruiens et ineffabiliter iubenti obediens voluntarium laborem susceperat. Ita non nisi dei voluntas causa prima illius aegritudinis veracissime reperiretur. Iam vero si in labore officioso et pio adhibuisset ille sapiens ministros conlaborantes secum in opere bono, nec tamen eadem voluntate deo seruientes sed ad carnalium cupiditatum suarum mercedem pervenire cupientes vel incommoda carnalia devitantes; adhibuisset etiam iumenta si hoc exigeret illius operis implendi procuratio, quae utique iumenta irrationalia essent animantia nec ideo moverent membra sub sarcinis quod aliquid de illo bono opere cogitarent sed naturali appetitu suae voluptatis et devitatione molestiae; postremo adhibuisset ipsa etiam corpora omni sensu carentia quae illi operi essent necessaria, frumentum scilicet, vinum, oleum, uestem, nummum, codicem, et si qua huiusmodi. In his certe omnibus in illo opere versantibus corporibus sive animatis sive inanimis quaecumque moverentur, attererentur, repararentur, exterminarentur, reformarentur, alio atque alio modo locis et temporibus affecta mutarentur--num alia esset istorum omnium visibilium et mutabilium factorum causa nisi illa inuisibilis et incommutabilis voluntas dei per animam iustam sicut sedem sapientiae cunctis utens et malis et irrationalibus animis et postremo corporibus, sive quae illis inspirarentur et animarentur sive omni sensu carentibus cum primitus uteretur ipsa bona anima et sancta quam sibi ad pium et religiosum obsequium subdidisset?	Let us take, then, the case of a wise man, such that his rational soul is already partaker of the unchangeable and eternal truth, so that he consults it about all his actions, nor does anything at all, which he does not by it know ought to be done, in order that by being subject to it and obeying it he may do rightly. Suppose now that this man, upon counsel with the highest reason of the divine righteousness, which he hears with the ear of his heart in secret, and by its bidding, should weary his body by toil in some office of mercy, and should contract an illness; and upon consulting the physicians, were to be told by one that the cause of the disease was overmuch dryness of the body, but by another that it was overmuch moisture; one of the two no doubt would allege the true cause and the other would err, but both would pronounce concerning proximate causes only, that is, corporeal ones. But if the cause of that dryness were to be inquired into, and found to be the self-imposed toil, then we should have come to a yet higher cause, which proceeds from the soul so as to affect the body which the soul governs. Yet neither would this be the first cause, for that doubtless was a higher cause still, and lay in the unchangeable wisdom itself, by serving which in love, and by obeying its ineffable commands, the soul of the wise man had undertaken that self-imposed toil; and so nothing else but the will of God would be found most truly to be the first cause of that illness. But suppose now in that office of pious toil this wise man had employed the help of others to co-operate in the good work, who did not serve God with the same will as himself, but either desired to attain the reward of their own carnal desires, or shunned merely carnal unpleasantnesses;— suppose, too, he had employed beasts of burden, if the completion of the work required such a provision, which beasts of burden would be certainly irrational animals, and would not therefore move their limbs under their burdens because they at all thought of that good work, but from the natural appetite of their own liking, and for the avoiding of annoyance—suppose, lastly, he had employed bodily things themselves that lack all sense, but were necessary for that work, as e.g. grain, and wine, and oils, clothes, or money, or a book, or anything of the kind—certainly, in all these bodily things thus employed in this work, whether animate or inanimate, whatever took place of movement, of wear and tear, of reparation, of destruction, of renewal or of change in one way or another, as places and times affected them; pray, could there be, I say, any other cause of all these visible and changeable facts, except the invisible and unchangeable will of God, using all these, both bad and irrational souls, and lastly bodies, whether such as were inspired and animated by those souls, or such as lacked all sense, by means of that upright soul as the seat of His wisdom, since primarily that good and holy soul itself employed them, which His wisdom had subjected to itself in a pious and religious obedience?
[3.3.9] Quod ergo de uno sapiente quamvis adhuc corpus mortale gestante, quamvis ex parte vidente, posuimus exempli gratia, hoc de aliqua domo ubi aliquorum talium societas est, hoc de civitate vel etiam de orbe terrarum licet cogitare si penes sapientes sancteque ac perfecte deo subditos sit principatus et regimen rerum humanarum.	9. What, then, we have alleged by way of example of a single wise man, although of one still bearing a mortal body and still seeing only in part, may be allowably extended also to a family, where there is a society of such men, or to a city, or even to the whole world, if the chief rule and government of human affairs were in the hands of the wise, and of those who were piously and perfectly subject to God;
[3.4.9] Sed hoc quia nondum est (oportet enim nos in hac peregrinatione prius mortaliter exerceri et per vires mansuetudinis et patientiae in flagellis erudiri), illam ipsam supernam atque caelestem unde peregrinamur patriam cogitemus. Illic enim dei voluntas qui facit angelos suos spiritus et ministros suos ignem ardentem in spiritibus summa pace atque amicitia copulatis et in unam voluntatem quodam spiritali caritatis igne conflatis tamquam in excelsa et sancta et secreta sede praesidens velut in domo sua et in templo suo. Inde se quibusdam ordinatissimis creaturae motibus primo spiritalibus deinde corporalibus per cuncta diffundit et utitur omnibus ad incommutabile arbitrium sententiae suae, sive incorporeis sive corporeis rebus, sive rationalibus sive irrationalibus spiritibus, sive bonis per eius gratiam sive malis per propriam voluntatem. Sed quemadmodum corpora crassiora et inferiora per subtiliora et potentiora quodam ordine reguntur, ita omnia corpora per spiritum vitae, et spiritus vitae irrationalis per spiritum vitae rationalem, et spiritus vitae rationalis desertor atque peccator per spiritum vitae rationalem pium et iustum, et ille per ipsum deum, ac SiC universa creatura per creatorem suum ex quo et per quem et in quo etiam condita atque instituta est; ac per hoc voluntas dei est prima et summa causa omnium corporalium specierum atque motionum. Nihil enim fit visibiliter et sensibiliter quod non de interiore inuisibili atque intellegibili aula summi imperatoris aut iubeatur aut permittatur secundum ineffabilem iustitiam praemiorum atque poenarum, gratiarum et retributionum, in ista totius creaturae amplissima quadam immensaque republica.	but because this is not the case as yet (for it behooves us first to be exercised in this our pilgrimage after mortal fashion, and to be taught with stripes by force of gentleness and patience), let us turn our thoughts to that country itself that is above and heavenly, from which we here are pilgrims. For there the will of God, who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire, presiding among spirits which are joined in perfect peace and friendship, and combined in one will by a kind of spiritual fire of charity, as it were in an elevated and holy and secret seat, as in its own house and in its own temple, thence diffuses itself through all things by certain most perfectly ordered movements of the creature; first spiritual, then corporeal; and uses all according to the unchangeable pleasure of its own purpose, whether incorporeal things or things corporeal, whether rational or irrational spirits, whether good by His grace or evil through their own will. But as the more gross and inferior bodies are governed in due order by the more subtle and powerful ones, so all bodies are governed by the living spirit; and the living spirit devoid of reason, by the reasonable living spirit; and the reasonable living spirit that makes default and sins, by the living and reasonable spirit that is pious and just; and that by God Himself, and so the universal creature by its Creator, from whom and through whom and in whom it is also created and established. And so it comes to pass that the will of God is the first and the highest cause of all corporeal appearances and motions. For nothing is done visibly or sensibly, unless either by command or permission from the interior palace, invisible and intelligible, of the supreme Governor, according to the unspeakable justice of rewards and punishments, of favor and retribution, in that far-reaching and boundless commonwealth of the whole creature.
[3.4.10] Si ergo apostolus Paulus quamvis adhuc portaret sarcinam corporis quod corrumpitur et aggrauat animam, quamvis adhuc ex parte atque in aenigmate videret, optans dissolvi et esse cum Christo et in semetipso ingemiscens adoptionem exspectans redemptionem corporis sui potuit tamen significando praedicare dominum Iesum Christum, aliter per linguam suam, aliter per epistulam, aliter per sacramentum corporis et sanguinis eius; nec linguam quippe eius nec membranas et atramentum nec significantes sonos lingua editos nec signa litterarum conscripta pelliculis corpus Christi et sanguinem dicimus, sed illud tantum quod ex fructibus terrae acceptum et prece mystica consecratum rite sumimus ad salutem spiritalem in memoriam pro nobis dominicae passionis, quod cum per manus hominum ad illam visibilem speciem perducatur non sanctificatur ut sit tam magnum sacramentum nisi operante inuisibiliter spiritu dei, cum haec omnia quae per corporales motus in illo opere fiunt deus operetur movens primitus inuisibilia ministrorum sive animas hominum sive occultorum spirituum sibi subditas seruitutes quid mirum si etiam in creatura caeli et terrae, maris et aeris, facit deus quae vult sensibilia atque visibilia ad se ipsum in eis sicut oportere ipse novit significandum et demonstrandum, non ipsa sua gua est apparente substantia quae omnino incommutabiliis est omnibusque spiritibus quos creavit interius secretiusque sublimior?	10. If, therefore, the Apostle Paul, although he still bare the burden of the body, which is subject to corruption and presses down the soul, and although he still saw only in part and in an enigma, wishing to depart and be with Christ, and groaning within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of his body, yet was able to preach the Lord Jesus Christ significantly, in one way by his tongue, in another by epistle, in another by the sacrament of His body and blood (since, certainly, we do not call either the tongue of the apostle, or the parchments, or the ink, or the significant sounds which his tongue uttered, or the alphabetical signs written on skins, the body and blood of Christ; but that only which we take of the fruits of the earth and consecrate by mystic prayer, and then receive duly to our spiritual health in memory of the passion of our Lord for us: and this, although it is brought by the hands of men to that visible form, yet is not sanctified to become so great a sacrament, except by the spirit of God working invisibly; since God works everything that is done in that work through corporeal movements, by setting in motion primarily the invisible things of His servants, whether the souls of men, or the services of hidden spirits subject to Himself): what wonder if also in the creature of heaven and earth, of sea and air, God works the sensible and visible things which He wills, in order to signify and manifest Himself in them, as He Himself knows it to be fitting, without any appearing of His very substance itself, whereby He is, which is altogether unchangeable, and more inwardly and secretly exalted than all spirits whom He has created?
[3.5.11] Vi enim divina totam spiritalem corporalemque administrante creaturam omnium annorum certis diebus aduocantur aquae maris et effunduntur super faciem terrae. Sed cum hoc orante sancto Helia factum est quia praecesserat tam continua et tam longa serenitas ut fame deficerent homines, nec ea hora qua ille dei seruus oravit aer ipse aliqua humida facie mox futurae pluuiae signa praetulerat, consecutis tantis et tam velociter imbribus apparuit vis divina quibus illud dispensabatur dabaturque miraculum. Ita deus operatur solemnia fulgura atque tonitrua. Sed quia in monte Sina inusitato modo fiebant vocesque illae non strepitu confuso edebantur sed eis quaedam signa dari certissimis indicius apparebat, miracula erant. Quis attrahit humorem per radicem vitis ad botrum et vinum facit nisi deus qui et homine plantante et rigaDte incrementum dat? Sed cum ad nutum domini aqua in vinum inusitata celeritate conversa est, etiam stultis fatentibus vis divina declarata est. Quis arbusta fronde ac flore solemniter uestit nisi deus? Verum cum floruit virga sacerdotis Aaron, conlocuta est quodam modo cum dubitante humanitate divinitas. Et lignis certe omnibus et omnium animalium carnibus gignendis atque formandis communis est terrena materies et quis ea facit nisi qui dixit ut haec terra produceret et in eodem verbo suo quae creavit regit atque agit? Sed cum eandem materiam ex virga Moysi in carnem serpentis proxime ac velociter vertit, miraculum fuit, rei quidem mutabilis sed tamen inusitata mutatio. Quis autem animat quaeque viva nascentia nisi qui et illum serpentem ad horam sicut opus fuerat animavit?	11. For since the divine power administers the whole spiritual and corporeal creature, the waters of the sea are summoned and poured out upon the face of the earth on certain days of every year. But when this was done at the prayer of the holy Elijah; because so continued and long a course of fair weather had gone before, that men were famished; and because at that very hour, in which the servant of God prayed, the air itself had not, by any moist aspect, put forth signs of the coming rain; the divine power was apparent in the great and rapid showers that followed, and by which that miracle was granted and dispensed. In like manner, God works ordinarily through thunders and lightnings: but because these were wrought in an unusual manner on Mount Sinai, and those sounds were not uttered with a confused noise, but so that it appeared by most sure proofs that certain intimations were given by them, they were miracles. Who draws up the sap through the root of the vine to the bunch of grapes, and makes the wine, except God; who, while man plants and waters, Himself gives the increase? But when, at the command of the Lord, the water was turned into wine with an extraordinary quickness, the divine power was made manifest, by the confession even of the foolish. Who ordinarily clothes the trees with leaves and flowers except God? Yet, when the rod of Aaron the priest blossomed, the Godhead in some way conversed with doubting humanity. Again, the earthy matter certainly serves in common to the production and formation both of all kinds of wood and of the flesh of all animals: and who makes these things, but He who said, Let the earth bring them forth; and who governs and guides by the same word of His, those things which He has created? Yet, when He changed the same matter out of the rod of Moses into the flesh of a serpent, immediately and quickly, that change, which was unusual, although of a thing which was changeable, was a miracle. But who is it that gives life to every living thing at its birth, unless He who gave life to that serpent also for the moment, as there was need.
[3.6.11] Et quis reddidit cadaveribus animas suas cum resurgerent mortui nisi qui animat carnes in uteris matrum ut oriantur morituri? Sed cum fiunt illa continuato quasi quodam fluuio labentium manantiumque rerum et ex occulto in promptum atque ex prompto in occultum usitato itinere transeuntium, naturalia dicuntur; cum vero admonendis hominibus inusitata mutabilitate ingeruntur, magnalia nomunantur.	And who is it that restored to the corpses their proper souls when the dead rose again, unless He who gives life to the flesh in the mother's womb, in order that they may come into being who yet are to die? But when such things happen in a continuous kind of river of ever-flowing succession, passing from the hidden to the visible, and from the visible to the hidden, by a regular and beaten track, then they are called natural; when, for the admonition of men, they are thrust in by an unusual changeableness, then they are called miracles.
[3.7.12] Hic video quid infirmae cogitationi possit occurrere, cur scilicet ista miracula etiam magicis artibus fiant. Nam et magi pharaonis similiter serpentes fecerunt et alia similia. Sed illud amplius est admirandum quomodo magorum illa potentia quae serpentes facere potuit ubi ad muscas minutissimas ventum est omnino defecit. Scinifes enim musculae sunt brevissimae qua tertia plaga superbus aegyptius populus caedebatur. Ibi certe deficientes magi dixerunt: Digitus dei est hoc. Unde intellegi datur ne ipsos quidem transgressores angelos et aerias potestates in imam istam caliginem tamquam in sui generis carcerem ab illius sublimis aetheriae puritatis habitatione detrusas, per quas magicae artes possunt quidquid possunt, valere aliquid nisi data desuper potestate. Datur autem vel ad fallendos fallaces sicut in aegyptios et in ipsos etiam magos data est ut in eorum spirituum seductione viderentur admirandi a quibus fiebant, a dei veritate damnandi; vel ad admonendos fideles ne tale aliquid facere pro magno desiderent, propter quod etiam nobis scripturae auctoritate sunt prodita; vel ad exercendam, probandam manifestandamque iustorum patientiam. Neque enim parua visibilium miraculorum potentia Iob cuncta quae habebat amisit et filios et ipsam corporis sanitatem.	12. I see here what may occur to a weak judgment, namely, why such miracles are wrought also by magic arts; for the wise men of Pharaoh likewise made serpents, and did other like things. Yet it is still more a matter of wonder, how it was that the power of those magicians, which was able to make serpents, when it came to very small flies, failed altogether. For the lice, by which third plague the proud people of Egypt were smitten, are very short-lived little flies; yet there certainly the magicians failed, saying, This is the finger of God. And hence it is given us to understand that not even those angels and powers of the air that transgressed, who have been thrust down into that lowest darkness, as into a peculiar prison, from their habitation in that lofty ethereal purity, through whom magic arts have whatever power they have, can do anything except by power given from above. Now that power is given either to deceive the deceitful, as it was given against the Egyptians, and against the magicians also themselves, in order that in the seducing of those spirits they might seem admirable by whom they were wrought, but to be condemned by the truth of God; or for the admonishing of the faithful, lest they should desire to do anything of the kind as though it were a great thing, for which reason they have been handed down to us also by the authority of Scripture; or lastly, for the exercising, proving, and manifesting of the patience of the righteous. For it was not by any small power of visible miracles that Job lost all that he had, and both his children and his bodily health itself.
[3.8.13] Nec ideo putandum est istis transgressoribus angelis ad nutum seruire hanc visibilium rerum materiam sed deo potius a quo haec potestas datur quantum in sublimi et spiritali sede incommutabilis iudicat. Nam et damnatis iniquis etiam in metallo seruit aqua et ignis et terra ut faciant inde quod volunt, sed quantum sinitur. Nec sane creatores illi mali angeli dicendi sunt quia per illos magi resistentes famulo dei ranas et serpentes fecerunt; non enim eas ipsi creaverunt. Omnium quippe rerum quae corporaliter visibiliterque nascuntur occulta quaedam semina in istis corporeis mundi huius elementis latent. Alia sunt enim haec iam conspicua oculis nostris ex fructibus et animantibus; alia vero illa occulta istorum seminum semina unde iubente creatore produxit aqua prima natatilia et volatilia, terra autem prima germina et prima sui generis animalia. Neque enim tunc in huiuscemodi fetus ita producta sunt ut in eis quae producta sunt vis illa consumpta sit, sed plerumque desunt congruae temperamentorum occasiones quibus erumpant et species suas peragant. Ecce enim brevissimus surculus semen est, nam convenienter mandatus terrae arborem facit. Huius autem surculi subtilius semen aliquod eiusdem generis granum est et huc usque nobis visibile. Iam vero huius etiam grani semen quamvis oculis videre nequeamus, ratione tamen conicere possumus quia msi talis aliqua vis esset in istis elementis, non plerumque nascerentur ex terra quae ibi seminata non essent, nec animalia tam multa nulla marium feminarumque commixtione praecedente sive in terra sive in aqua, quae tamen crescunt et coeundo alia pariunt, cum illa nullis coeuntibus parentibus orta sint. Et certe apes semina filiorum non coeundo concipiunt sed tamquam sparsa per terras ore colligunt. Inuisibilium enim seminum creator ipse creator est omnium rerum quoniam quaecumque nascendo ad oculos nostros exeunt ex occultis seminibus accipiunt progrediendi primordia et incrementa debitae magnitudinis distinctionesque formarum ab originalibus tamquam regulis sumunt. Sicut ergo nec parentes dicimus creatores hominum nec agricolas creatores frugum, quamvis eorum extrinsecus adhibitis motibus ista creanda dei virtus interius operetur, ita non solum malos sed nec bonos angelos fas est putare creatores si pro subtilitate sui sensus et corporis semina rerum istarum nobis occultiora noverunt et ea per congruas temperationes elementorum latenter spargunt atque ita et gignendarum rerum et accelerandorum incrementorum praebent occasiones. Sed nec boni haec nisi quantum deus iubet, nec mali haec iniuste faciunt nisi quantum iuste ipse permittit. Nam iniqui malitia voluntatem suam habent iniustam; potestatem autem non nisi iuste accipiunt sive ad suam poenam sive ad aliorum vel poenam malorum vel laudem bonorum.	13. Yet it is not on this account to be thought that the matter of visible things is subservient to the bidding of those wicked angels; but rather to that of God, by whom this power is given, just so far as He, who is unchangeable, determines in His lofty and spiritual abode to give it. For water and fire and earth are subservient even to wicked men, who are condemned to the mines, in order that they may do therewith what they will, but only so far as is permitted. Nor, in truth, are those evil angels to be called creators, because by their means the magicians, withstanding the servant of God, made frogs and serpents; for it was not they who created them. But, in truth, some hidden seeds of all things that are born corporeally and visibly, are concealed in the corporeal elements of this world. For those seeds that are visible now to our eyes from fruits and living things, are quite distinct from the hidden seeds of those former seeds; from which, at the bidding of the Creator, the water produced the first swimming creatures and fowl, and the earth the first buds after their kind, and the first living creatures after their kind. For neither at that time were those seeds so drawn forth into products of their several kinds, as that the power of production was exhausted in those products; but oftentimes, suitable combinations of circumstances are wanting, whereby they may be enabled to burst forth and complete their species. For, consider, the very least shoot is a seed; for, if fitly consigned to the earth, it produces a tree. But of this shoot there is a yet more subtle seed in some grain of the same species, and this is visible even to us. But of this grain also there is further still a seed, which, although we are unable to see it with our eyes, yet we can conjecture its existence from our reason; because, except there were some such power in those elements, there would not so frequently be produced from the earth things which had not been sown there; nor yet so many animals, without any previous commixture of male and female; whether on the land, or in the water, which yet grow, and by commingling bring forth others, while themselves sprang up without any union of parents. And certainly bees do not conceive the seeds of their young by commixture, but gather them as they lie scattered over the earth with their mouth. For the Creator of these invisible seeds is the Creator of all things Himself; since whatever comes forth to our sight by being born, receives the first beginnings of its course from hidden seeds, and takes the successive increments of its proper size and its distinctive forms from these as it were original rules. As therefore we do not call parents the creators of men, nor farmers the creators of grain—although it is by the outward application of their actions that the power of God operates within for the creating these things—so it is not right to think not only the bad but even the good angels to be creators, if, through the subtlety of their perception and body, they know the seeds of things which to us are more hidden, and scatter them secretly through fit temperings of the elements, and so furnish opportunities of producing things, and of accelerating their increase. But neither do the good angels do these things, except as far as God commands, nor do the evil ones do them wrongfully, except as far as He righteously permits. For the malignity of the wicked one makes his own will wrongful; but the power to do so, he receives rightfully, whether for his own punishment, or, in the case of others, for the punishment of the wicked, or for the praise of the good.
[3.7.14] Itaque apostolus discernens interius deum creantem atque formantem ab operibus creaturae quae admoventur extrinsecus et de agricultura similitudinem assumens ait: Ego plantavi, Apollo rigavit, sed deus incrementum dedit. Sicut ergo in ipsa vita nostra mentem iustificando formare non potest nisi deus, praedicare autem extrinsecus euangelium et homines possunt non solum boni per veritatem sed etiam mali per occasionem; ita creationem rerum visibilium deus interius operatur, exteriores autem operationes sive bonorum sive malorum vel angelorum vel hominum, sive etiam quorumcumque animalium, secundum imperium suum et a se impertitas distributiones potestatum et appetitiones commoditatum ita rerum naturae adhibet in qua creat omnia quemadmodum terrae agriculturam. Quapropter ita non possum dicere angelos malos magicis artibus euocatos creatores fuisse ranarum atque serpentium, sicut non possum dicere homines malos segetis esse creatores quam per eorum operam videro exortam.	14. Accordingly, the Apostle Paul, distinguishing God's creating and forming within, from the operations of the creature which are applied from without, and drawing a similitude from agriculture, says, I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. As, therefore, in the case of spiritual life itself, no one except God can work righteousness in our minds, yet men also are able to preach the gospel as an outward means, not only the good in sincerity, but also the evil in pretence; so in the creation of visible things it is God that works from within; but the exterior operations, whether of good or bad, of angels or men, or even of any kind of animal, according to His own absolute power, and to the distribution of faculties, and the several appetites for things pleasant, which He Himself has imparted, are applied by Him to that nature of things wherein He creates all things, in like manner as agriculture is to the soil. Wherefore I can no more call the bad angels, evoked by magic arts, the creators of the frogs and serpents, than I can say that bad men were creators of the grain crop, which I see to have sprung up through their labor.
[3.7.15] Sicut nec Iacob creator colorum in pecoribus fuit quia bibentibus in conceptu matribus variatas virgas quas intuerentur apposuit. Sed nec ipsae pecudes creatrices fuerunt varietatis prolis suae quia inhaeserat animae illarum discolor phantasia ex contuitu variarum virgarum per oculos impressa, quae non potuit nisi corpus quod sic affecto spiritu animabatur ex compassione commixtionis afficere unde teneris fetuum primordus colore tenus aspergeretur. Ut enim sic ex semetipsis afficiantur vel anima ex corpore vel corpus ex anima, congruentiae rationis id faciunt quae incommutabiliter vivunt in ipsa summa dei sapientia quam nulla spatia locorum capiunt; et cum sit ipsa incommutabilis, nihil eorum quae vel mutabiliter sunt deserit quia nihil eorum nisi per ipsasn creatum est. Ut enim de pecoribus non virgae sed pecora nascerentur, fecit hoc incommutabilis et inuisibilis ratio sapientiae dei per quam creata sunt omnia; ut autem de varietate virgarum pecorum conceptorum color aliquid duceret, fecit hoc anima gravidae pecudis per oculos affecta forinsecus et interius secum pro suo modulo formandi regulam trahens quam de intima potentia sui creatoris accepit. Sed quanta sit vis animae ad afficiendam atque mutandam materiam corporalem (cum tamen creatrix corporis dici non possit quia omnis causa mutabilis sensibilisque substantiae omnisque modus et numerus et pondus eius unde efficitur ut et sit et natura ita vel ita sit ab intellegibili et incommutabili vita quae super omnia est exsistit et pervenit usque ad extrema atque terrena), multus sermo est neque nunc necessarius. Verum propterea factum Iacob de pecoribus commemorandum arbitratus sum ut intellegeretur si homo qui virgas illas sic posuit dici non potest creator colorum in agnis et haedis, nec ipsae matrum animae quae conceptam per oculos corporis phantasiam varietatis semunibus carne conceptis quantum natura passa est asperserunt, multo minus dici posse ranarum serpentiumque creatores angelos malos per quos magi pharaonis tunc illa fecerunt.	15. Just as Jacob, again, was not the creator of the colors in the flocks, because he placed the various colored rods for the several mothers, as they drank, to look at in conceiving. Yet neither were the cattle themselves creators of the variety of their own offspring, because the variegated image, impressed through their eyes by the sight of the varied rods, clave to their soul, but could affect the body that was animated by the spirit thus affected only through sympathy with this commingling, so far as to stain with color the tender beginnings of their offspring. For that they are so affected from themselves, whether the soul from the body, or the body from the soul, arises in truth from suitable reasons, which immutably exist in that highest wisdom of God Himself, which no extent of place contains; and which, while it is itself unchangeable, yet quits not one even of those things which are changeable, because there is not one of them that is not created by itself. For it was the unchangeable and invisible reason of the wisdom of God, by which all things are created, which caused not rods, but cattle, to be born from cattle; but that the color of the cattle conceived should be in any degree influenced by the variety of the rods, came to pass through the soul of the pregnant cattle being affected through their eyes from without, and so according to its own measure drawing inwardly within itself the rule of formation, which it received from the innermost power of its own Creator. How great, however, may be the power of the soul in affecting and changing corporeal substance (although certainly it cannot be called the creator of the body, because every cause of changeable and sensible substance, and all its measure and number and weight, by which are brought to pass both its being at all and its being of such and such a nature, arise from the intelligible and unchangeable life, which is above all things, and which reaches even to the most distant and earthly things), is a very copious subject, and one not now necessary. But I thought the act of Jacob about the cattle should be noticed, for this reason, viz. in order that it might be perceived that, if the man who thus placed those rods cannot be called the creator of the colors in the lambs and kids; nor yet even the souls themselves of the mothers, which colored the seeds conceived in the flesh by the image of variegated color, conceived through the eyes of the body, so far as nature permitted it; much less can it be said that the creators of the frogs and serpents were the bad angels, through whom the magicians of Pharaoh then made them.
[3.9.16] Aliud est enim ex intimo ac summo causarum cardine condere atque administrare creaturam, quod qui facit solus creator est deus; aliud autem pro distributis ab illo viribus et facultatibus aliquam operationem forinsecus admovere ut tunc vel tunc sic vel sic exeat quod creatur. Ista quippe originaliter ac primordialiter in quadam textura elementorum cuncta iam creata sunt sed acceptis opportunitatibus prodeunt. Nam sicut matres gravidae sunt fetibus, sic ipse mundus gravidus est causis nascentium quae in illo non creantur nisi ab illa summa essentia ubi nec oritur nec moritur aliquid nec incipit esse nec desinit. Adhibere autem forinsecus accedentes causas quae tametsi non sunt naturales tamen secundum naturam adhibentur ut ea quae secreto naturae sinu abdita continentur erumpant quodam modo et foris creantur explicando mensuras et numeros et pondera sua quae in occulto acceperunt ab illo qui omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuit, non solum mali angeli sed etiam mali homines possunt sicut exemplo agriculturae supra docui.	16. For it is one thing to make and administer the creature from the innermost and highest turning-point of causation, which He alone does who is God the Creator; but quite another thing to apply some operation from without in proportion to the strength and faculties assigned to each by Him, so that what is created may come forth into being at this time or at that, and in this or that way. For all these things in the way of original and beginning have already been created in a kind of texture of the elements, but they come forth when they get the opportunity. For as mothers are pregnant with young, so the world itself is pregnant with the causes of things that are born; which are not created in it, except from that highest essence, where nothing either springs up or dies, either begins to be or ceases. But the applying from without of adventitious causes, which, although they are not natural, yet are to be applied according to nature, in order that those things which are contained and hidden in the secret bosom of nature may break forth and be outwardly created in some way by the unfolding of the proper measures and numbers and weights which they have received in secret from Him who has ordered all things in measure and number and weight: this is not only in the power of bad angels, but also of bad men, as I have shown above by the example of agriculture.
[3.8.17] Sed ne de animalibus quasi diversa ratio moveat quod habent spiritum vitae cum sensu appetendi quae secundum naturam sunt vitandique contraria, etiam hoc est videre quam multi homines noverint ex quibus herbis aut carnibus aut quarumque rerum quibuslibet sucis et humoribus vel ita positis vel ita obrutis vel ita contritis vel ita commixtis quae animalia nasci soleant. Quorum se quis tam demens audeat dicere creatorem? Quid ergo mirum si quemadmodum potest nosse quilibet nequissimus homo unde illi vel illi vermes muscaeque nascantur, ita mali angeli pro subtilitate sui sensus in occultioribus elementorum seminibus norunt unde ranae serpentesque nasc antur, et haec per certas et not as temperationum opportunitates occultis motibus adhibendo faciunt creari non creant? Sed illa homines quae solent ab hominibus fieri non mirantur. Quod si quisquam celeritates incrementorum forte miratur quod illa animantia tam cito facta sunt, attendat quemadmodum et ista pro modulo facultatis humanae ab hominibus procurentur. Unde enim fit ut eadem corpora citius vermescant aestate quam hieme, citius in calidionbus quam in frigidioribus locis? Sed haec ab hominibus tanto difficilius adhibentur quanto desunt sensuum subtilitates et corporum mobilitates in membris terrenis et pigris. Unde qualibuscumque angelis vicinas causas ab elementis contrahere quanto facilius est tanto mirabiliores in huiusmodi operibus eorum exsistunt celeritates.	17. But lest the somewhat different condition of animals should trouble any one, in that they have the breath of life with the sense of desiring those things that are according to nature, and of avoiding those things that are contrary to it; we must consider also, how many men there are who know from what herbs or flesh, or from what juices or liquids you please, of whatever sort, whether so placed or so buried, or so bruised or so mixed, this or that animal is commonly born; yet who can be so foolish as to dare to call himself the creator of these animals? Is it, therefore, to be wondered at, if just as any, the most worthless of men, can know whence such or such worms and flies are produced; so the evil angels in proportion to the subtlety of their perceptions discern in the more hidden seeds of the elements whence frogs and serpents are produced, and so through certain and known opportune combinations applying these seeds by secret movements, cause them to be created, but do not create them? Only men do not marvel at those things that are usually done by men. But if any one chance to wonder at the quickness of those growths, in that those living beings were so quickly made, let him consider how even this may be brought about by men in proportion to the measure of human capability. For whence is it that the same bodies generate worms more quickly in summer than in winter, or in hotter than in colder places? Only these things are applied by men with so much the more difficulty, in proportion as their earthly and sluggish members are wanting in subtlety of perception, and in rapidity of bodily motion. And hence it arises that in the case of any kind of angels, in proportion as it is easier for them to draw out the proximate causes from the elements, so much the more marvellous is their rapidity in works of this kind.
[3.8.18] Sed non est creator nisi qui principaliter ista format, nec quisquam hoc potest nisi ille penes quem primitus sunt omnium quae sunt mensurae, numeri et pondera et ipse est unus creator deus ex cuius ineffabili potentatu fit etiam ut quod possent hi angeli si permitterentur ideo non possint quia onon permittuntur. Neque enim occurrit alia ratio cur non potuerunt facere minutissimas muscas qui ranas serpentesque fecerunt nisi quia maior aderat dominatio prohibentis dei per spiritum sanctum, quod etiam ipsi magi confessi sunt dicentes: Digitus dei est hoc. Quid autem possint per naturam nec possint per prohibitionem, et quid per ipsius naturae suae conditionem facere non sinantur homini explorare difficile est immo vero impossibile nisi per illud donum dei quod apostolus commemorat dicens: Alii diiudicatio spirituum. Novimus enum hominem posse ambulare et neque hoc posse si non permittatur, volare autem non posse etiamsi permittatur Sic et illi angeli quaedam possunt facere si permittantur ab angelis potentioribus ex imperio dei, quaedam vero non possunt nec si ab eis permittantur, quia ille non permittit a quo illis est talis naturae modus, qui etiam per angelos suos et illa plerumque non permittit quae concessit ut possint.	18. But He only is the creator who is the chief former of these things. Neither can any one be this, unless He with whom primarily rests the measure, number, and weight of all things existing; and He is God the one Creator, by whose unspeakable power it comes to pass, also, that what these angels were able to do if they were permitted, they are therefore not able to do because they are not permitted. For there is no other reason why they who made frogs and serpents were not able to make the most minute flies, unless because the greater power of God was present prohibiting them, through the Holy Spirit; which even the magicians themselves confessed, saying, This is the finger of God. But what they are able to do by nature, yet cannot do, because they are prohibited; and what the very condition of their nature itself does not suffer them to do; it is difficult, nay, impossible, for man to search out, unless through that gift of God which the apostle mentions when he says, To another the discerning of spirits. For we know that a man can walk, yet that he cannot do so if he is not permitted; but that he cannot fly, even if he be permitted. So those angels, also, are able to do certain things if they are permitted by more powerful angels, according to the supreme commandment of God; but cannot do certain other things, not even if they are permitted by them; because He does not permit from whom they have received such and such a measure of natural powers: who, even by His angels, does not usually permit what He has given them power to be able to do.
[3.8.19] Exceptis igitur illis quae usitatissimo transcursu temporum in rerum naturae ordine corporaliter fiunt, sicuti sunt ortus occasusque siderum, generationes et mortes animalium, seminum et germinum innumerabiles diversitates, nebulae et nubes, nives et pluuiae, fulgura et tonitrua, fulmina et grandines, venti et ignes, frigus et aestus, et omnia talia exceptis etiam illis quae in eodem ordine rara sunt, sicut defectus luminum et species inusitatae siderum et monstra et terrae motus et similia; exceptis ergo istis omnibus quorum quidem prima et summa causa non est nisi voluntas dei -- unde et in psalmo cum quaedam huius generis commemorata essent: Ignis, grando, nix, glacies, spiritus tempestatis ne quis ea vel fortuitu, vel causis tantummodo corporalibus vel etiam spiritalibus tamen praeter voluntatem dei exsistentibus agi crederet, continuo subiecit: Quae faciunt verbum eius.	19. Excepting, therefore, those corporeal things which are done in the order of nature in a perfectly usual series of times, as e.g., the rising and setting of the stars, the generations and deaths of animals, the innumerable diversities of seeds and buds, the vapors and the clouds, the snow and the rain, the lightnings and the thunder, the thunderbolts and the hail, the winds and the fire, cold and heat, and all like things; excepting also those which in the same order of nature occur rarely, such as eclipses, unusual appearances of stars, and monsters, and earthquakes, and such like—all these, I say, are to be excepted, of which indeed the first and chief cause is only the will of God; whence also in the Psalm, when some things of this kind had been mentioned, Fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind, lest any one should think those to be brought about either by chance or only from corporeal causes, or even from such as are spiritual, but exist apart from the will of God, it is added immediately, fulfilling His word.
[3.10.19] Sed his ut dicere coeperam exceptis, alia sunt illa quae quamvis ex eadem materia corporali ad aliquid tamen divinitus annuntiandum nostris sensibus admoventur, quae proprie miracula et signa dicuntur, nec in omnibus quae nobis a domino deo annuntiantur ipsius dei persona suscipitur. Cum autem suscipitur, aliquando in angelo demonstratur, aliquando in ea specie quae non est quod angelus quamvis per angelum disposita ministretur; rursus cum in ea specie suscipitur quae non est quod angelus, aliquando iam erat ipsum corpus et ad hoc demonstrandum in aliquam mutationem assumitur, aliquando ad hoc exoritur et re peracta rursus absumitur. Sicut etiam cum homines annuntiant, aliquando ex sua persona verba dei loquuntur sicuti cum praemittitur: Dixit dominus aut: Haec dicit dominus aut tale aliquid; aliquando autem nihil tale praemittentes ipsam dei personam in se suscipiunt sicuti est: Intellectum dabo tibi et constituam te in via hac qua ingredieris. Sic non solum in dictis verum etiam in factis dei persona significanda imponitur prophetae ut eam gerat in ministerio prophetiae, sicut eius personam gerebat qui uestimentum suum divisit in duodecim partes et ex eis decem seruo regis Salomonis dedit regi futuro Israhel; aliquando etiam res quae non erat quod propheta et erat iam in terrenis rebus in huiusmodi significa tion em assumpta est, sicut somnio viso evigilans Iacob fecit de lapide quem dormiens habebat ad caput, aliquando ad hoc fit eadem species vel aliquantum mansura, sicut potuit serpens ille aeneus exaltatus in heremo, sicut possunt et litterae; vel peracto ministerio transitura sicut panis ad hoc factus in accipiendo sacramento consumitur.	Excepting, therefore, all these things as I just now said, there are some also of another kind; which, although from the same corporeal substance, are yet brought within reach of our senses in order to announce something from God, and these are properly called miracles and signs; yet is not the person of God Himself assumed in all things which are announced to us by the Lord God. When, however, that person is assumed, it is sometimes made manifest as an angel; sometimes in that form which is not an angel in his own proper being, although it is ordered and ministered by an angel. Again, when it is assumed in that form which is not an angel in his own proper being; sometimes in this case it is a body itself already existing, assumed after some kind of change, in order to make that message manifest; sometimes it is one that comes into being for the purpose, and that being accomplished, is discarded. Just as, also, when men are the messengers, sometimes they speak the words of God in their own person, as when it is premised, The Lord said, or, Thus says the Lord, or any other such phrase, but sometimes without any such prefix, they take upon themselves the very person of God, as e.g.: I will instruct you, and teach you in the way wherein you shall go: so, not only in word, but also in act, the signifying of the person of God is imposed upon the prophet, in order that he may bear that person in the ministering of the prophecy; just as he, for instance, bore that person who divided his garment into twelve parts, and gave ten of them to the servant of King Solomon, to the future king of Israel. Sometimes, also, a thing which was not a prophet in his own proper self, and which existed already among earthly things, was assumed in order to signify this; as Jacob, when he had seen the dream, upon waking up did with the stone, which when asleep he had under his head. Sometimes a thing is made in the same kind, for the mere purpose; so as either to continue a little while in existence, as that brazen serpent was able to do which was lifted up in the wilderness, and as written records are able to do likewise; or so as to pass away after having accomplished its ministry, as the bread made for the purpose is consumed in the receiving of the sacrament.
[3.10.20] Sed quia haec hominibus nota sunt quippe quia per homines fiunt, honorem tamquam religiosa possunt habere, stuporem tamquam mira non possunt. Itaque illa quae per angelos fiunt quo difficiliora et ignotiora eo mirabiliora sunt nobis, illis autem tamquam suae actiones notae atque faciles. Loquitur ex persona dei angelus homini dicens: Ego sum deus Abraham et deus Isaac et deus Iacob cum scriptura praedixisset: Visus est ei angelus domini loquitur et homo ex persona dei dicens: Audi populus meus et loquar, Israhel, et testificabor tibi: Deus, deus tuus sum ego. Assumpta est virga ad significationem et in serpentem angelica facultate mutata est; quae facultas cum desit homini, assumptus est tamen et ab homine lapis ad talem aliquam significationem. Inter factum angeli et factum hominis plurimum distat. Illud et mirandum est et intellegendum, hoc autem tantummodo intellegendum. Quod ex utroque intellegitur fortassis unum est, at illa ex quibus intellegitur diversa sunt, tamquam si domini nomen et auro et atramento scribatur. Illud est pretiosius, illud vilius; quod tamen utroque significatur idipsum est. Et quamvis idem significaverit serpens ex virga Moysi quod lapis Iacob, melius tamen aliquid lapis Iacob quam serpentes magorum. Nam sicut unctio lapidis Christum in carne in qua unctus est oleo exsultationis prae participibus suis, ita virga Moysi conversa in serpentem ipsum Christum factum obedientem usque ad mortem crucis. Unde ait: Sicut exaltavit Moyses serpentem in heremo, sic oportet exaltari filium hominis ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat sed habeat vitam aeternam sicut intuentes illum serpentem exaltatum in heremo serpentium morsibus non peribant. Vetus enim homo noster confixus est cruci cum illo ut euacuetur corpus peccati. Per serpentem autem mors intellegitur quae facta est a serpente in paradiso modo locutionis per efficientem id quod efficitur demonstrante. Ergo virga in serpentem, Christus in mortem, et serpens rursus in virgam, Christus in resurrectionem totus cum corpore suo quod est ecclesia, quod in fine temporis erit quem serpentis cauda significat quam Moyses tenuit ut redigeretur in virgam. Serpentes autem magorum tamquam mortui saeculi nisi credentes in Christum tamquam deuorati in corpus eius intraverint resurgere in illo non poterunt. Lapis ergo Iacob, ut dixi, melius aliquid significavit quam serpentes magorum; at enim factum magorum multo mirabilius. Verum haec ita non praeiudicant rebus intellegendis tamquam si hominis nomen scribatur auro et dei atramento.	20. But because these things are known to men, in that they are done by men, they may well meet with reverence as being holy things, but they cannot cause wonder as being miracles. And therefore those things which are done by angels are the more wonderful to us, in that they are more difficult and more known; but they are known and easy to them as being their own actions. An angel speaks in the person of God to man, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; the Scripture having said just before, The angel of the Lord appeared to him. And a man also speaks in the person of God, saying, Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto you, O Israel: I am the Lord your God. A rod was taken to serve as a sign, and was changed into a serpent by angelical power; but although that power is wanting to man, yet a stone was taken also by man for a similar sign. There is a wide difference between the deed of the angel and the deed of the man. The former is both to be wondered at and to be understood, the latter only to be understood. That which is understood from both, is perhaps one and the same; but those things from which it is understood, are different. Just as if the name of God were written both in gold and in ink; the former would be the more precious, the latter the more worthless; yet that which is signified in both is one and the same. And although the serpent that came from Moses' rod signified the same thing as Jacob's stone, yet Jacob's stone signified something better than did the serpents of the magicians. For as the anointing of the stone signified Christ in the flesh, in which He was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows; so the rod of Moses, turned into a serpent, signified Christ Himself made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Whence it is said, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life; just as by gazing on that serpent which was lifted up in the wilderness, they did not perish by the bites of the serpents. For our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. For by the serpent death is understood, which was wrought by the serpent in paradise, the mode of speech expressing the effect by the efficient. Therefore the rod passed into the serpent, Christ into death; and the serpent again into the rod, whole Christ with His body into the resurrection; which body is the Church; and this shall be in the end of time, signified by the tail, which Moses held, in order that it might return into a rod. But the serpents of the magicians, like those who are dead in the world, unless by believing in Christ they shall have been as it were swallowed up by, and have entered into, His body, will not be able to rise again in Him. Jacob's stone, therefore, as I said, signified something better than did the serpents of the magicians; yet the deed of the magicians was much more wonderful. But these things in this way are no hindrance to the understanding of the matter; just as if the name of a man were written in gold, and that of God in ink.
[3.10.21] Illas etiam nubes et ignes quomodo fecerint vel assumpserint angeli ad significandum quod annuntiabant etiam si dominus vel spiritus sanctus illis corporalibus formis ostendebatur, quis novit hominum? Sicut infantes non noverunt quod in altari ponitur et peracta pietatis celebratione consumitur unde vel quomodo conficiatur, unde in usum religionis assumatur. Et si numquam discant experimento vel suo vel aliorum et numquam illam speciem rerum videant nisi inter celebrationem sacramentorum cum offertur et datur, dicaturque illis auctoritate gravissima cuius corpus et sanguis sit, nihil aliud credent nisi omnino in illa specie dominum oculis apparuisse mortalium et de latere tali percusso liquorem illum omnino fluxisse. Mihi autem utile est ut meminerim virium mearum, fratresque meos admoneam ut meminerint suarum, ne ultra quam tutum est humana progrediatur infirmitas. Quemadmodum enim haec faciant angeli vel potius deus quemadmodum haec faciat per angelos suos, et quantum fieri velit etiam per angelos malos sive sinendo sive iubendo sive cogendo ex occulta sede altissimi imperii sui, nec oculorum acie penetrare nec fiducia rationis enucleare nec provectu mentis comprehendere valeo ut tam certus hinc loquar ad omnia quae requiri de his rebus possunt quam si essem angelus aut propheta aut apostolus. Cogitationes enim mortalium timidae, et incertae providentiae nostrae. Corpus enim quod corrumpitur aggrauat animam, et deprimit terrena inhabitatio sensum multa cogitantem. Et difficile aestimamus quae in terra sunt, et quae in prospectu sunt invenimus cum labore. Quae in caelis sunt autem quis investigavit? Sed quia sequitur et dicit: Sensum vero tuum quis scit nisi tu dederis sapientiam et miseris spiritum sanctum tuum de altissimis?, quae in caelis sunt quidem non investigamus quo rerum genere et corpora angelica secundum propriam dignitatem et eorum quaedam corporalis actio continetur; secundum spiritum tamen dei missum nobis de altissimis et impertitam eius gratiam mentibus nostris audeo fiducialiter dicere nec deum patrem nec verbum eius nec spiritum eius, quod deus unus est, per id quod est atque idipsum est ullo modo esse mutabilem ac per hoc multo minus visibilem. Quoniam sunt quaedam quamvis mutabilia non tamen visibilia, sicut nostrae cogitationes et memoriae et voluntates et omnis incorporea creatura; visibile autem quidquam non est quod non sit mutabile.	21. What man, again, knows how the angels made or took those clouds and fires in order to signify the message they were bearing, even if we supposed that the Lord or the Holy Spirit was manifested in those corporeal forms? Just as infants do not know of that which is placed upon the altar and consumed after the performance of the holy celebration, whence or in what manner it is made, or whence it is taken for religious use. And if they were never to learn from their own experience or that of others, and never to see that species of thing except during the celebration of the sacrament, when it is being offered and given; and if it were told them by the most weighty authority whose body and blood it is; they will believe nothing else, except that the Lord absolutely appeared in this form to the eyes of mortals, and that that liquid actually flowed from the piercing of a side which resembled this. But it is certainly a useful caution to myself, that I should remember what my own powers are, and admonish my brethren that they also remember what theirs are, lest human infirmity pass on beyond what is safe. For how the angels do these things, or rather, how God does these things by His angels, and how far He wills them to be done even by the bad angels, whether by permitting, or commanding, or compelling, from the hidden seat of His own supreme power; this I can neither penetrate by the sight of the eyes, nor make clear by assurance of reason, nor be carried on to comprehend it by reach of intellect, so as to speak thereupon to all questions that may be asked respecting these matters, as certainly as if I were an angel, or a prophet, or an apostle. For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and our devices are but uncertain. For the corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind, that muses upon many things. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labor do we find the things that are before us; but the things that are in heaven, who has searched out? But because it goes on to say, And Your counsel who has known, except Thou give wisdom, and send Your Holy Spirit from above; therefore we refrain indeed from searching out the things which are in heaven, under which kind are contained both angelical bodies according to their proper dignity, and any corporeal action of those bodies; yet, according to the Spirit of God sent to us from above, and to His grace imparted to our minds, I dare to say confidently, that neither God the Father, nor His Word, nor His Spirit, which is the one God, is in any way changeable in regard to that which He is, and whereby He is that which He is; and much less is in this regard visible. Since there are no doubt some things changeable, yet not visible, as are our thoughts, and memories, and wills, and the whole incorporeal creature; but there is nothing that is visible that is not also changeable.
[3.11.21] Quapropter substantia vel si melius dicitur essentia dei, ubi pro nostro modulo ex quantulacumque particula intellegimus patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum, quandoquidem nullo modo mutabilis est, nullo modo potest ipsa per semetipsam esse visibilis.	Wherefore the substance, or, if it is better so to say, the essence of God, wherein we understand, in proportion to our measure, in however small a degree, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, since it is in no way changeable, can in no way in its proper self be visible.
[3.11.22] Proinde illa omnia quae patribus visa sunt cum deus illis secundum suam dispensationem temporibus congruam praesentaretur per creaturam facta esse manifestum est. Et si nos latet quomodo ea ministris angelis fecerit, per angelos tamen esse facta non ex nostro sensu dicimus ne cuiquam videamur plus sapere praeter quam oportet sapere, sed sapimus ad temperantiam sicut deus nobis partitus est mensuram fidei, et credimus propter quod et loquimur. Exstat enim auctoritas divinarum scripturarum unde mens nostra deviare non debet, nec relicto solidamento divini eloquii per suspicionum suarum abrupta praecipitari ubi nec sensus corporis regit nec perspicua ratio veritatis elucet. Apertissime quippe scriptum est in epistula ad hebraeos, cum dispensatio novi testamenti a dispensatione ueteris testamenti secundum congruentiam saeculorum ac temporum distingueretur, non tantum illa visibilia sed ipsum etiam sermonem per angelos factum. Sic enim dicit: Ad quem autem angelorum dixit aliquando: Sede ad dexteram meam donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum? Nonne omnes sunt ministri spiritus ad ministrationem missi propter eos qui futuri sunt haereditate possidere salutem? Hinc ostendit illa omnia non solum per angelos facta sed etiam propter nos facta, id est populum dei cui promittitur haereditas vitae aeternae. Sicut ad corinthios etiam scriptum est: Omnia autem haec in figura contingebant illis; scripta sunt autem ad correptionem nostram in quos finis saeculorum obvenit. Deinde quia tunc per angelos nunc autem per filium sermo factus est, consequenter aperteque demonstrans: Propterea, inquit, abundantius debemus attendere nos ea quae audivimus ne forte defivamus. Si enim qui per angelos dictus sermo factus est firmus, et omnis praeuaricatio et inobedientia iustam accepit mercedis retributionem, quomodo nos effugiemus tantam neglegentes salutem? Et quasi quaereres quam salutem, ut ostenderet se de nouo testamento iam dicere, id est sermonem qui non per angelos sed per dominum factus est: Quae cum initium accepisset, inquit, ut enarraretur per dominum, ab his qui audierunt in nos confirmata est coatestante deo signis et ostentis et variis virtutibus et spiritus sancti divisionibus secundum suam voluntatem.	22. It is manifest, accordingly, that all those appearances to the fathers, when God was presented to them according to His own dispensation, suitable to the times, were wrought through the creature. And if we cannot discern in what manner He wrought them by ministry of angels, yet we say that they were wrought by angels; but not from our own power of discernment, lest we should seem to any one to be wise beyond our measure, whereas we are wise so as to think soberly, as God has dealt to us the measure of faith; and we believe, and therefore speak. For the authority is extant of the divine Scriptures, from which our reason ought not to turn aside; nor by leaving the solid support of the divine utterance, to fall headlong over the precipice of its own surmisings, in matters wherein neither the perceptions of the body rule, nor the clear reason of the truth shines forth. Now, certainly, it is written most clearly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when the dispensation of the New Testament was to be distinguished from the dispensation of the Old, according to the fitness of ages and of times, that not only those visible things, but also the word itself, was wrought by angels. For it is said thus: But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Whence it appears that all those things were not only wrought by angels, but wrought also on our account, that is, on account of the people of God, to whom is promised the inheritance of eternal life. As it is written also to the Corinthians, Now all these things happened unto them in a figure: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come. And then, demonstrating by plain consequence that as at that time the word was spoken by the angels, so now by the Son; Therefore, he says, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? And then, as though you asked, What salvation?— in order to show that he is now speaking of the New Testament, that is, of the word which was spoken not by angels, but by the Lord, he says, Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will.
[3.10.23] 'Sed,' ait aliquis, 'cur ergo scriptum est: Dixit dominus ad Moysen et non potius: 'Dixit angelus ad Moysen?' Quia cum verba iudicis praeco pronuntiat, non scribitur in gestis: 'Ille praeco dixit,' sea: 'Ille iudex.' Sic etiam loquente propheta sancto etsi dicamus: 'Propheta dixit,' nihil aliud quam dominum dixisse intellegi volumus. Et si dicamus: Dominus dixit, prophetam non subtrahimus, sed quis per eum dixerit admonemus. Et illa quidem scriptura eaepe aperit angelum esse domini quo loquente identidem dicitur: Dominus dixit sicut iam demonstravimus. Sed propter eos qui cum scriptura illic angelum nominal ipsum per se ipsum filium dei volunt intellegi quia propter annuntiationem paternae ac suae voluntatis a propheta dictus est angelus, propterea volui ex hac epistula manifestius testimonium dare ubi non dictum est 'per angelum' sed 'per angelos'.	23. But some one may say, Why then is it written, The Lord said to Moses; and not, rather, The angel said to Moses? Because, when the crier proclaims the words of the judge, it is not usually written in the record, so and so the crier said, but so and so the judge. In like manner also, when the holy prophet speaks, although we say, The prophet said, we mean nothing else to be understood than that the Lord said; and if we were to say, The Lord said, we should not put the prophet aside, but only intimate who spoke by him. And, indeed, these Scriptures often reveal the angel to be the Lord, of whose speaking it is from time to time said, the Lord said, as we have shown already. But on account of those who, since the Scripture in that place specifies an angel, will have the Son of God Himself and in Himself to be understood, because He is called an angel by the prophet, as announcing the will of His Father and of Himself; I have therefore thought fit to produce a plainer testimony from this epistle, where it is not said by an angel, but by angels.
[3.10.24] Nam et Stephanus in actibus apostolorum eo more narrat haec quo etiam in ueteribus libris conscripta sunt: Viri fratres et patres, audite, inquit: Deus gloriae apparuit Abrahae patri nostro cum esset in Mesopotamia. Ne quis autem arbitraretur tunc deum gloriae per id quod in se ipso est cuiusquam oculis apparuisse mortalium, in consequentibus dicit quod Moysi angelus apparuerit. Fugit, inquit, Moyses in verbo isto, et factus est inquilinus in terra Madian ubi genuit filios duos. Et completis illic annis quadraginta apparuit illi in deserto montis Sina angelus domini in flamma ignis in rubo. Moyses autem videns mirabatur visum. Qui cum accederet considerare, facta est vox domini: Ego deus patrum tuorum deus Abraham et deus Isaac et deus Iacob. Tremefactus autem Moyses non audebat considerare. Dixitque illi dominus: Solue calceamentum pedum tuorum... etc. Hic certe et angelum et dominum dicit eundemque deum Abraham et deum Isaac et deum Iacob sicut in genes) scriptum est.	24. For Stephen, too, in the Acts of the Apostles, relates these things in that manner in which they are also written in the Old Testament: Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken, he says; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia. But lest any one should think that the God of glory appeared then to the eyes of any mortal in that which He is in Himself, he goes on to say that an angel appeared to Moses. Then fled Moses, he says, at that saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off your shoes from your feet, etc. Here, certainly, he speaks both of angel and of Lord; and of the same as the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; as is written in Genesis.
[3.10.25] An forte quisquam dicturus est quod Moysi per angelum apparuit dominus, Abrahae vero per se ipsum? At hoc ab Stephano non quaeramus. Ipsum librum interrogemus unde Stephanus ista narravit. Numquid enim quia scriptum est: Et dixit dominus deus ad Abraham et paulo post: Et visus est dominus deus Abrahae propterea ista non per angelos facta sunt? Cum alio loco similiter dicat: Visus est autem ei deus ad ilicem Mambre, sedente eo ad ostium tabernaculi sui meridie et tamen consequenter adiungat: Respiciens autem oculis suis vidit, et ecce tres viri stabant super eum de quibus iam diximus. Quomodo enim poterunt isti qui vel a verbis ad intellectum nolunt assurgere vel facile se ab intellectu in verba praecipitant, quomodo poterunt explicare visum esse deum in viris tribus nisi eos, sicut etiam consequentia docent, angelos fuisse fateantur? An quia non dictum est, 'Angelus ei locutus est' vel 'apparuit,' propterea dicere audebunt Moysi quidem illam visionem ac vocem per angelum factam quia ita scriptum est, Abrahae autem quia commemoratio angel) fact a non est per sub st antiam suam deum apparuisse atq ue sonuisse? Quid quod nec apud Abraham de angelo tacitum est? Nam ita legitur cum immolandus eius filius pateretur: Et factum est post haec verba temptavit deus Abraham et dixit ad eum: Abraham, Abraham. Et ille dixit: Ecce ego. Et dixit ei: Accipe filium tuum dilectum quem diligis, Isaac, et uade in terram excelsam et offeres eum ibi holocaustum super unum montium quem tibi dixero. Certe hic deus non angelus commemoratus est. Paulo post vero ita se habet scriptura: Extendens autem Abraham manum suam sumpsit gladium occidere filium suum. Et vocavit eum angelus domini de caelo et dixit ei: Abraham, Abraham. Et dixit: Ecce ego. Et dixit: Ne inicias manum tuam super puerum neque facias ei quidquam. Quid ad haec respondetur? An dicturi sunt deum iussisse ut occideretur Isaac et angelum prohibuisse; porro ipsum patrem adversus dei praeceptum qui iusserat ut occideret obtemperasse angelo ut parceret? Ridendus et abiciendus hic sensus est. Sed neque huic tam grosso et abiecto ullum locum esse scriptura permittit continuo subiungens: Nunc enim cognovi quia times deum tu et non pepercisti filio tuo dilecto propter me. Quid est, propter me, nisi propter eum qui occidi iusserat? Idem igitur deus Abrahae qui angelus, an potius per angelum deus? Accipe sequentia; certe iam hic angelus manifestissime expressus est. Attende tamen quid contexatur: Respiciens Abraham oculis suis vidit, et ecce aries unus tenebatur in arbore sabech cornibus; et abiit Abraham et accepit arietem et obtulit eum holocaustum pro Isaac filio quo. Et cognominavit Abraham nomen loci illius: dominus vidit, ut dicant hodie quod in monte dominus visus est. Sicut paulo ante quod dixit deus per angelum: Nunc enim cognovi quia times deum non tunc deus cognovisse intellegendus est sed egisse ut per deum ipse Abraham cognosceret quantas haberet vires cordis ad obediendum deo usque ad immolationem unici filii, illo modo locutionis quo significatur per efficientem id quod efficitur, sicut dicitur frigus pigrum, quod pigros facit, ut ideo cognovisse diceretur quia ipsum Abraham cognoscere fecerat quem poterat latere fidei suae firmitas nisi tall experimento probaretur; ita et hic cognominavit Abraham nomen loci illius: dominus vidit id est quod videri se fecit. Nam continuo secutus ait: Ut dicant hodie quod in monte dominus visus est. Ecce idem angelus dominus dicitur. Quare nisi quia per angelum dominus? Iam vero in eo quod sequitur prophetice omnino angelus loquitur et prorsus aperit quod per angelum deus loquatur. Et vocavit, inquit, angelus domini Abraham iterum de caelo dicens: Per me iuravi, dicit dominus, propter quod fecisti hoc verbum et non pepercisti filio tuo dilecto propter me... etc. Haec certe verba ut dicat ille per quem loquitur dominus Haec dicit dominus etiam prophetae solent habere. An filius dei de patre ait: Dicit dominus et ipse est ille angelus patris? Quid ergo de illis tribus viris, nonne respiciunt quomodo urgeantur qui visi sunt Abrahae cum praedictum esset: Visus est ei dominus? An quia viri dicti sunt non erant angeli? Danielem legant dicentem: Et ecce vir Gabriel.	25. Can there be any one who will say that the Lord appeared to Moses by an angel, but to Abraham by Himself? Let us not answer this question from Stephen, but from the book itself, whence Stephen took his narrative. For, pray, because it is written, And the Lord God said unto Abraham; and a little after, And the Lord God appeared unto Abraham; were these things, for this reason, not done by angels? Whereas it is said in like manner in another place, And the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and yet it is added immediately, And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: of whom we have already spoken. For how will these people, who either will not rise from the words to the meaning, or easily throw themselves down from the meaning to the words—how, I say, will they be able to explain that God was seen in three men, except they confess that they were angels, as that which follows also shows? Because it is not said an angel spoke or appeared to him, will they therefore venture to say that the vision and voice granted to Moses was wrought by an angel because it is so written, but that God appeared and spoke in His own substance to Abraham because there is no mention made of an angel? What of the fact, that even in respect to Abraham an angel is not left unmentioned? For when his son was ordered to be offered up as a sacrifice, we read thus: And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains that I will tell you of. Certainly God is here mentioned, not an angel. But a little afterwards Scripture has it thus: And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything unto him. What can be answered to this? Will they say that God commanded that Isaac should be slain, and that an angel forbade it? And further, that the father himself, in opposition to the decree of God, who had commanded that he should be slain, obeyed the angel, who had bidden him spare him? Such an interpretation is to be rejected as absurd. Yet not even for it, gross and abject as it is, does Scripture leave any room, for it immediately adds: For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, on account of me. What is on account of me, except on account of Him who had commanded him to be slain? Was then the God of Abraham the same as the angel, or was it not rather God by an angel? Consider what follows. Here, certainly, already an angel has been most clearly spoken of; yet notice the context: And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord saw: as it is said to this day, In the mount the Lord was seen. Just as that which a little before God said by an angel, For now I know that you fear God; not because it was to be understood that God then came to know, but that He brought it to pass that through God Abraham himself came to know what strength of heart he had to obey God, even to the sacrificing of his only son: after that mode of speech in which the effect is signified by the efficient—as cold is said to be sluggish, because it makes men sluggish; so that He was therefore said to know, because He had made Abraham himself to know, who might well have not discerned the firmness of his own faith, had it not been proved by such a trial. So here, too, Abraham called the name of the place The Lord saw, that is, caused Himself to be seen. For he goes on immediately to say, As it is said to this day, In the mount the Lord was seen. Here you see the same angel is called Lord: wherefore, unless because the Lord spoke by the angel? But if we pass on to that which follows, the angel altogether speaks as a prophet, and reveals expressly that God is speaking by the angel. And the angel of the Lord, he says, called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord; for because you have done this thing, and hast not withheld your son, your only son, on account of me, etc. Certainly these words, viz. that he by whom the Lord speaks should say, Thus says the Lord, are commonly used by the prophets also. Does the Son of God say of the Father, The Lord says, while He Himself is that Angel of the Father? What then? Do they not see how hard pressed they are about these three men who appeared to Abraham, when it had been said before, The Lord appeared to him? Were they not angels because they are called men? Let them read Daniel, saying, Behold the man Gabriel.
[3.10.26] Sed quid ultra differimus ore eorum evidentissimo atque gravissimo alio documento oppilare ubi non angelus singulariter nec viri pluraliter sed omnino angeli dicuntur, per quos non sermo quilibet factus sed lex ipsa data manifestissime ostenditur, quam certe nullus fidelium dubitat deum dedisse Moysi ad subiugandum populum Israhel sed tamen per angelos datam? Ita Stephanus loquitur: Dura ceruice, inquit, et non circumcisi corde et auribus, vos semper spiritui sancto restitistis sicut et patres uestri. Quem prophetarum non persecuti sunt patres uestri? Et occiderunt eos qui praenuntiabant de adventu iusti, cuius nunc vos proditores et interfectores fuistis qui accepistis legem in edictis angelorum nec custodistis. Quid hoc evidentius? Quid tanta auctoritate robustius? In edictis quidem angelorum illi populo lex data est, sed domini Iesu Christi per eam disponebatur et praenuntiabatur adventus, et ipse tamquam verbum dei miro et ineffabili modo erat in angelis in quorum edictis lex dabatur. Unde dicit in euangelio: Si crederetis Moysi, crederetis et mihi, de me enim ille scripsit. Per angelos ergo tunc dominus loquebatur, per angelos filius dei mediator dei et hominum futurus ex semine Abrahae suum disponebat adventum ut inveniret a quibus reciperetur, confitentes reos quos lex non impleta fecerat transgressores. Unde et apostolus ad galatas dicit: Quid ergo lex? Transgressionis gratia proposita est donec veniret semen cui promissum est, dispositum per angelos in manu mediatoris {hoc est dispositum per angelos in manu sua. Non enim natus est per conditionem sed per potestatem.} Quod autem non aliquem ex angelis dicit mediatorem sed ipsum dominum Iesum Christum in quantum homo fieri dignatus est haloes alio loco: Unus, inquit, deus, unus et mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus. Hinc illud pascha in interfectione agni; hinc illa omnia quae de Christo venturo in came atque passuro sed et resurrecturo in lege figurantur quae data est in edictis angelorum, in quibus angelis erat utique et pater et filius et spiritus sanctus, et aliquando pater, aliquando filius, aliquando spiritus sanctus, aliquando sine ulla distinctione personae deus per illos figurabatur etsi visibilibus et sensibilibus formis apparens, per creaturam tamen suam non per substantiam suam cui videndae corda mundantur per haec omnia quae oculis videntur et auribus audiuntur.	26. But why do we delay any longer to stop their mouths by another most clear and most weighty proof, where not an angel in the singular nor men in the plural are spoken of, but simply angels; by whom not any particular word was wrought, but the Law itself is most distinctly declared to be given; which certainly none of the faithful doubts that God gave to Moses for the control of the children of Israel, or yet, that it was given by angels. So Stephen speaks: You stiff-necked, he says, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. What is more evident than this? What more strong than such an authority? The Law, indeed, was given to that people by the disposition of angels; but the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ was by it prepared and pre-announced; and He Himself, as the Word of God, was in some wonderful and unspeakable manner in the angels, by whose disposition the Law itself was given. And hence He said in the Gospel, For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me. Therefore then the Lord was speaking by the angels; and the son of God, who was to be the Mediator of God and men, from the seed of Abraham, was preparing His own advent by the angels, that He might find some by whom He would be received, confessing themselves guilty, whom the Law unfulfilled had made transgressors. And hence the apostle also says to the Galatians, Wherefore then serves the Law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, which [seed] was ordered through angels in the hand of a mediator; that is, ordered through angels in His own hand. For He was not born in limitation, but in power. But you learn in another place that he does not mean any one of the angels as a mediator, but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in so far as He deigned to be made man: For there is one God, he says, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Hence that passover in the killing of the lamb: hence all those things which are figuratively spoken in the Law, of Christ to come in the flesh, and to suffer, but also to rise again, which Law was given by the disposition of angels; in which angels, were certainly the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and in which, sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son, sometimes the Holy Spirit, and sometimes God, without any distinction of person, was figuratively signified by them, although appearing in visible and sensible forms, yet by His own creature, not by His substance, in order to the seeing of which, hearts are cleansed through all those things which are seen by the eyes and heard by the ears.
[3.10.27] Sed iam satis quantum existimo pro captu nostro disputatum et demonstratum est quod in hoc libro susceperamus ostendere, constititque et probabilitate rationis quantum homo vel potius quantum ego potui, et firmitate auctoritatis quantum de scripturis sanctis divina eloquia patuerunt, quod antiquis patribus nostris ante incarnationem saluatoris cum deus apparere dicebatur voces illae ac species corporales per angelos factae sunt, sive ipsis loquentibus vel agentibus aliquid ex persona dei sicut etiam prophetas solere ostendimus, sive assumentibus ex creatura quod ipsi non essent ubi deus figurate demonstraretur hominibus, quod genus significationum nec prophetas omisisse multis exemplis docet scriptura. Superest igitur iam ut videamus cum et nato per virginem domino et corporali specie sicut columba descendente spiritu sancto visisque igneis linguis sonitu facto de caelo die pentecostes post ascensionem domini, non ipsum dei verbum per substantiam qua patri aequale atque coaeternum est, nec spiritus patris et filii per substantiam qua et ipse utrique coaequalis atque coaeternus est, sed utique creatura quae illis modis formari et exsistere potuit corporeis atque mortalibus sensibus apparuerit; quid inter illas demonstrationes et has proprietates filii dei et spiritus sancti quamvis per creaturam visibilem factas intersit, quod ab alio volumine commodius ordiemur.	27. But now, as I think, that which we had undertaken to show in this book has been sufficiently discussed and demonstrated, according to our capacity; and it has been established, both by probable reason, so far as a man, or rather, so far as I am able, and by strength of authority, so far as the divine declarations from the Holy Scriptures have been made clear, that those words and bodily appearances which were given to these ancient fathers of ours before the incarnation of the Saviour, when God was said to appear, were wrought by angels: whether themselves speaking or doing something in the person of God, as we have shown that the prophets also were wont to do, or assuming from the creature that which they themselves were not, wherein God might be shown in a figure to men; which manner of showing also, Scripture teaches by many examples, that the prophets, too, did not omit. It remains, therefore, now for us to consider—since both in the Lord as born of a virgin, and in the Holy Spirit descending in a corporeal form like a dove, and in the tongues like as of fire, which appeared with a sound from heaven on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, it was not the Word of God Himself by His own substance, in which He is equal and eternal with the Father, nor the Spirit of the Father and of the Son by His own substance, in which He Himself also is equal and co-eternal with both, but assuredly a creature, such as could be formed and exist in these fashions, which appeared to corporeal and mortal senses—it remains, I say, to consider what difference there is between these manifestations and those which were proper to the Son of God and to the Holy Spirit, although wrought by the visible creature; which subject we shall more conveniently begin in another book.	}