On the Trinity 3.3–3.9

Let us, then, picture in our minds a wise man of this kind, whose rational soul already partakes of the unchangeable and eternal truth, which he consults about all his actions, and does nothing at all that he has not known in it to be done, so that, subject to it and obeying it, he acts rightly. Suppose this man, having consulted the highest reason of divine justice, which he hears in secret with the ear of his heart, and at its command, wearies his body with labor in some duty of mercy and contracts an illness; and the physicians being consulted, one says that the cause of the disease is dryness of the body, another an excess of moisture. One of them would be stating the true cause, the other would be mistaken; but both would be pronouncing on the proximate causes, that is, bodily ones. But if the cause of that dryness were sought, and found to be voluntary labor, we would now have come to a higher cause, which proceeded from the soul to affect the body that it rules. But not even this would be the first cause; for that was without doubt higher, in the unchangeable Wisdom itself, serving which in love, and obeying it ineffably as it commanded, the soul of the wise man had undertaken the voluntary labor. So nothing but the will of God would most truly be found to be the first cause of that illness. Now suppose that in this dutiful and pious labor the wise man had employed helpers working with him in the good work, yet not serving God with the same will, but desiring to obtain the reward of their carnal desires or to avoid carnal inconveniences; suppose he had also employed beasts of burden, if the management of completing that work required it, which beasts would of course be irrational animals, and would not move their limbs under the loads because they were thinking anything about that good work, but from the natural appetite for their own pleasure and avoidance of trouble; finally, suppose he had employed even bodies lacking all sense, which were necessary for that work, namely grain, wine, oil, clothing, money, a book, and anything of this kind. In all these bodies, then, engaged in that work, whether animate or inanimate, whatever was moved, worn down, restored, destroyed, re-formed, or changed by being affected in one way or another in places and times, would there be any other cause of all these visible and changeable effects than that invisible and unchangeable will of God, using all things through the righteous soul as the seat of Wisdom, both wicked souls and irrational ones, and finally bodies, whether those inspired and animated by them or those lacking all sense, since it first used that good and holy soul itself, which it had subjected to itself for pious and religious obedience?

What we have set out, then, by way of example, about one wise man, though still bearing a mortal body and seeing in part, may be thought of a household where there is a fellowship of such men, or of a city, or even of the whole world, if the government and direction of human affairs were in the hands of the wise, who are holily and perfectly subject to God. But because this is not yet so (for we must first be exercised mortally in this pilgrimage, and be instructed under the scourge through the powers of meekness and patience), let us think of that very homeland above and in heaven, from which we are on pilgrimage. For there the will of God, "who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a burning fire," presiding as in a lofty, holy, and secret seat among spirits joined in the highest peace and friendship and fused into one will by a certain spiritual fire of love, as in his house and in his temple, pours itself out from there through all things by certain most orderly motions of the creature, first spiritual, then bodily, and uses all things according to the unchangeable judgment of its decree, whether incorporeal or bodily things, whether rational or irrational spirits, whether good by his grace or evil by their own will. But just as grosser and lower bodies are ruled in a certain order by subtler and more powerful ones, so all bodies are ruled by the spirit of life, and the irrational spirit of life by the rational spirit of life, and the rational spirit of life that is a deserter and sinner by the rational spirit of life that is pious and righteous, and that by God himself; and so the whole creation by its Creator, from whom and through whom and in whom it was also founded and established. And therefore the will of God is the first and highest cause of all bodily appearances and motions. For nothing happens visibly and perceptibly that is not either commanded or permitted from the inner, invisible, and intelligible court of the supreme Ruler, according to the ineffable justice of rewards and punishments, of graces and retributions, in this vast and immeasurable commonwealth, as it were, of the whole creation. If, then, the apostle Paul, though he still bore the burden of the body which is corrupted and weighs down the soul, though he still saw in part and in a riddle, desiring to depart and be with Christ, and groaning within himself, awaiting the adoption, the redemption of his body, could nevertheless preach the Lord Jesus Christ by signifying him, in one way by his tongue, in another by a letter, in another by the sacrament of his body and blood (for we call neither his tongue, nor the parchment, nor the ink, nor the meaningful sounds uttered by the tongue, nor the signs of letters written on skins, the body and blood of Christ, but only that which, taken from the fruits of the earth and consecrated by mystic prayer, we receive in due rite for our spiritual salvation in memory of the Lord's passion for us; and although it is brought to that visible form by the hands of men, it is not sanctified so as to be so great a sacrament except by the Spirit of God working invisibly, since God works all these things that are done in that work through bodily motions, moving first the invisible things of the ministers, whether the souls of men or the services of hidden spirits subject to him): what wonder is it if in the creation of heaven and earth, sea and air too, God makes whatever perceptible and visible things he wills, to signify and show himself in them, as he himself knows to be fitting, without his very substance, by which he is, appearing, which is altogether unchangeable and more sublime, more inwardly and secretly, than all the spirits he has created?

For by the divine power that governs the whole spiritual and bodily creation, the waters of the sea are called up on certain days of every year and poured out upon the face of the earth. But when this happened at the prayer of holy Elijah, because so continuous and so long a fair season had gone before that men were perishing of hunger, and at the very hour when that servant of God prayed the air itself had shown no signs of the coming rain in any moist appearance, the divine power appeared in such great and such swift showers that followed, by which that miracle was given and dispensed. So God works the ordinary lightnings and thunders; but because on Mount Sinai they occurred in an unusual way, and those voices were not uttered with confused noise, but it appeared by most certain indications that certain signs were being given by them, they were miracles. Who draws the moisture through the root of the vine to the cluster and makes wine, if not God, who gives the increase even when man plants and waters? But when, at the Lord's bidding, water was turned into wine with unusual speed, the divine power was declared, even fools admitting it. Who clothes the trees with leaf and flower in due season, if not God? But when the rod of Aaron the priest blossomed, divinity in a way conversed with doubting humanity. And certainly earthy matter is common to the generating and forming of all trees and of the flesh of all animals; and who makes them, if not he who said that the earth should bring them forth, and who rules and moves by that same word of his what he has created? But when he turned that same matter from the rod of Moses into the flesh of a serpent, immediately and quickly, it was a miracle, a change, indeed, of a changeable thing, but still an unusual change. And who gives life to every living thing that is born, if not he who gave life to that serpent too for the hour, as was needed?

And who gave back to the corpses their souls when the dead rose again, if not he who gives life to flesh in mothers' wombs, so that those who are to die may be born? But when these things happen in a continuous stream, as it were, of things gliding away and flowing on, passing by the usual course from hiddenness into view and from view into hiddenness, they are called natural; but when they are brought before men with unusual changeableness to admonish them, they are called mighty works.

Here I see what may occur to weak thinking: why, namely, such miracles are done also by magic arts; for the magicians of Pharaoh likewise made serpents and other similar things. But this is more to be wondered at: how that power of the magicians, which could make serpents, failed altogether when it came to the tiniest flies. For the gnats are very small flies, by which, as the third plague, the proud people of the Egyptians were struck. There certainly the magicians, failing, said, "This is the finger of God." From this we are given to understand that not even the transgressing angels and powers of the air, thrust down from the dwelling of that lofty ethereal purity into this lowest darkness as into a prison of their own kind, through whom the magic arts can do whatever they can, have any power except as power is given them from above. And it is given either to deceive the deceitful, as it was given against the Egyptians and against the magicians themselves, so that in the seduction of those spirits they might seem worthy of admiration by whom these things were done, but worthy of condemnation by the truth of God; or to admonish the faithful not to desire to do any such thing as something great, which is why these things have also been recorded for us by the authority of Scripture; or to exercise, test, and make manifest the patience of the righteous. For it was by no small power of visible miracles that Job lost all that he had, both his children and the very health of his body.

Nor should it be thought on that account that this matter of visible things serves these transgressing angels at their bidding, but rather God, by whom this power is given, as far as he, unchangeable, judges in his lofty and spiritual seat. For even to wicked men condemned to the mines, water and fire and earth serve, so that they make of them what they wish, but only as far as is allowed. Nor indeed are those evil angels to be called creators, because through them the magicians, resisting the servant of God, made frogs and serpents; for they did not create them. For certain hidden seeds of all things that are born bodily and visibly lie concealed in these bodily elements of this world. For these things now visible to our eyes, in fruits and animals, are one thing; but those hidden seeds of these seeds are another, from which, at the Creator's command, the water brought forth the first swimming and flying creatures, and the earth the first shoots of their kind and the first animals of their kind. For they were not then brought forth into offspring of this kind in such a way that that power was used up in the things brought forth; but very often fitting occasions of combinations are lacking by which they may break forth and complete their kinds. See, a very small cutting is a seed; for, fittingly committed to the earth, it makes a tree. And a subtler seed of this cutting is some grain of the same kind, and so far it is visible to us. But the seed even of this grain, although we cannot see it with our eyes, we can still conjecture by reason; for unless there were some such power in these elements, there would not very often be born from the earth things that had not been sown there, nor so many animals, without any previous union of male and female, whether on land or in water, which nevertheless grow and by mating bear others, though they themselves arose from no mating parents. And certainly bees do not conceive the seeds of their young by mating, but gather them with their mouths as though scattered over the ground. For the creator of the invisible seeds is himself the creator of all things; since whatever things come forth to our eyes by being born receive the beginnings of their going forth from hidden seeds, and take the growth to their due size and the distinctions of their forms from original rules, as it were. Just as, therefore, we do not call parents the creators of men, nor farmers the creators of crops, although it is by their motions applied from outside that the power of God works inwardly to create these things, so it is not right to think that not only the evil but even the good angels are creators, if, by the subtlety of their perception and body, they know the seeds of these things, which are more hidden from us, and scatter them secretly through fitting combinations of the elements, and so provide occasions for things to be generated and for their growth to be quickened. But neither do the good do these things except as far as God commands, nor do the evil do them unjustly except as far as he justly permits. For the malice of the wicked has its will unjust; but it receives power only justly, whether for its own punishment or for that of others, either for the punishment of the wicked or for the praise of the good. And so the apostle Paul, distinguishing God, who creates and forms inwardly, from the works of the creature which are applied from outside, and taking a comparison from agriculture, says: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." Just as, then, in our life itself no one but God can form our mind by justifying it, but men too can preach the Gospel outwardly, not only the good in truth but also the wicked in pretense, so God works the creation of visible things inwardly; but the outward operations, whether of good or evil, of angels or of men, or even of any animals, according to his command and the distributions of powers and the appetites for advantages that he has imparted, he applies to the nature of things, in which he creates all things, as farming is applied to the earth. Therefore I can no more say that the evil angels summoned by magic arts were the creators of the frogs and serpents than I can say that evil men are the creators of the crop that I see has sprung up through their labor. So neither was Jacob the creator of the colors in the flocks, because he set variegated rods for the mothers to look at as they drank at the time of conception. But neither were the animals themselves the creators of the variety of their offspring, because a many-colored image, impressed through the eyes from looking at the variegated rods, had clung to their soul, which could affect only the body animated by a spirit so affected, through the sympathy of their union, so that the tender beginnings of the offspring were sprinkled with it as far as color. For that they should be affected from one another in this way, the soul by the body or the body by the soul, is brought about by fitting reasons that live unchangeably in the highest wisdom of God itself, which no spaces of place contain; and while it is itself unchangeable, it forsakes none of those things that are changeably, because none of them was created except through it. For that from the flocks there should be born not rods but flocks was brought about by the unchangeable and invisible reason of the wisdom of God, through which all things were created; but that the color of the flocks conceived should take something from the variety of the rods was brought about by the soul of the pregnant animal, affected from outside through the eyes, and drawing inwardly within itself, in its small measure, the rule of forming, which it received from the inmost power of its Creator. But how great is the power of the soul to affect and change bodily matter (although it cannot be called the creator of the body, since every cause of changeable and perceptible substance, and all its measure and number and weight, by which it comes about that it both exists and is of this or that nature, arises from the intelligible and unchangeable life that is above all things and reaches even to the last and earthly things) is a long discussion, and not necessary now. But I thought the deed of Jacob concerning the flocks worth recalling so that it might be understood that, if the man who placed those rods so cannot be called the creator of the colors in the lambs and kids, nor the souls of the mothers themselves, which sprinkled the many-colored image conceived through the bodily eyes on the seeds conceived in the flesh, as far as nature allowed, much less can the evil angels, through whom the magicians of Pharaoh then did those things, be called creators of the frogs and serpents.

For it is one thing to found and govern the creation from the inmost and highest hinge of causes, and he who does this is God, the only creator; but it is another thing to apply some operation from outside, according to the powers and faculties distributed by him, so that what is created comes forth at this time or that, in this way or that. For all these things have already been created originally and primordially in a certain texture of the elements; but they come forth when they receive the opportunity. For as mothers are pregnant with offspring, so the world itself is pregnant with the causes of things that are born; and these are not created in it except by that highest essence, where nothing arises or dies, nothing begins or ceases to be. But to apply causes that come from outside, which, though they are not natural, are yet applied according to nature, so that the things contained hidden in the secret bosom of nature may break forth and be created outwardly, in a way, by unfolding the measures and numbers and weights they received in secret from him who has arranged all things in measure and number and weight: this not only evil angels but also evil men can do, as I showed above by the example of agriculture. But lest a different reasoning about animals should trouble anyone, since they have the spirit of life with the sense of seeking what accords with their nature and avoiding what is contrary, here too one may see how many men know from what herbs, or flesh, or juices or fluids of any things whatever, placed in this way, or buried in that, or crushed in this, or mixed in that, certain animals are usually born: who would be so mad as to dare to call himself their creator? What wonder, then, if, just as any most worthless man can know from what source this or that kind of worms and flies is born, so evil angels, by the subtlety of their perception, know in the more hidden seeds of the elements from what source frogs and serpents are born, and by applying these through certain and known opportunities of combination by hidden motions, cause them to be created, but do not create them? But men do not wonder at the things that are usually done by men. And if anyone perhaps wonders at the speed of the growth, that those animals were made so quickly, let him consider how such things too are brought about by men, according to the measure of human ability. For how does it come about that the same bodies breed worms more quickly in summer than in winter, more quickly in warmer than in colder places? But these things are applied by men with the more difficulty, the more they lack subtlety of senses and mobility of body in earthly and sluggish limbs. Hence, the easier it is for angels of whatever kind to draw together proximate causes from the elements, the more wonderful appears their speed in works of this kind. But he alone is creator who forms these things in the principal sense. Nor can anyone do this except him with whom are, first of all, the measures, numbers, and weights of all things that are; and he is the one creator God, from whose ineffable sovereignty it also comes about that what these angels could do if they were permitted, they cannot do because they are not permitted. For no other reason occurs why those who made frogs and serpents could not make the tiniest flies, except that a greater dominion was present, of God forbidding through the Holy Spirit; which even the magicians themselves confessed, saying, "This is the finger of God." But what they can do by nature and cannot do by prohibition, and what they are not allowed to do by the condition of their nature itself, it is difficult, or rather impossible, for man to find out, except through that gift of God which the Apostle recalls, saying, "To another the discerning of spirits." For we know that a man can walk, and cannot do even this if he is not permitted, but cannot fly even if he is permitted. So those angels too can do certain things if they are permitted by more powerful angels at the command of God; but certain things they cannot do even if they are permitted by them, because he does not permit it from whom they have such a measure of nature, and who, through his angels, very often does not permit even those things that he has granted them the ability to do. Leaving aside, then, those things that happen bodily in the order of nature in the most usual course of time, such as the risings and settings of the stars, the births and deaths of animals, the innumerable varieties of seeds and shoots, mists and clouds, snows and rains, lightnings and thunders, thunderbolts and hail, winds and fires, cold and heat, and all such things; leaving aside also those that are rare in the same order, such as eclipses of the luminaries, unusual appearances of stars, monsters, earthquakes, and the like; leaving aside, then, all these, of which indeed the first and highest cause is nothing but the will of God (which is why in the Psalm, when certain things of this kind had been mentioned, "fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy wind," lest anyone should believe that these are brought about either by chance, or by bodily causes only, or even by spiritual ones existing apart from the will of God, it at once added, "which do his word"):