Recognitions 8.21–8.45

“And if you wish to hear it according to other philosophers of the Greeks, and are trained in the mechanical disciplines, what is taught about the heavens is surely not unknown to you. For they posit a sphere gathered equally on every side and facing all parts alike, standing at equal distances from the center of the earth, and so stable by its very equality that the equality gathered on all sides allows it to incline in no direction; and so the sphere is sustained, borne up by no prop. If the fabric of the world truly has this form, the divine work in it is evident. But if, as others have held, the sphere is set on waters and either borne on them or revolves in them, even so the work of a great craftsman is declared in it.

“But so that the assertion may not seem uncertain because it concerns things not plain to all, let us come to what is hidden from no one. Who arranged the courses of the stars with such reason, established their risings and settings, and gave each to keep its circuit of heaven in fixed and measured times? Who permitted some always to tend toward the west, and others to return to the east as well? Who set a limit to the courses of the sun, so that by its various movements it marks hours and days and months and the changes of the seasons, and now winter, then spring, summer, and afterwards autumn, it distinguishes by the fixed measure of its course, and always binds the circle of the year in the same turns with unconfused variety? Who, I say, would not declare that the governess of so great an order is the very wisdom of God? Let these things be said by us according to what the Greeks teach in the disciplines concerning the heavens.

“And what of the things we see on land or in the sea? Are we not plainly taught that there is in them not only the work of God but also his providence? For high mountains are placed in certain fixed places on the earth, so that the air, as if compressed and constricted by them, is forced by God's ordering and pressed out into winds, from which the fruits conceive their growth and the summer heat is tempered when the Pleiades glow with the fiery heats of the sun. But you will say: ‘Why the heat of the sun at all, that tempering should be needed?’ And how would the crops necessary for human use ripen? Notice this too: toward the southern pole, where there is more heat, there is no great massing of clouds and no abundant supply of rains, lest disease arise among the inhabitants; for moist clouds, if cooked by fierce heat, make the air corrupt and pestilential. And the earth, receiving a hot rain, gives not nourishment but ruin to the crops. Who doubts that in this there is the work of divine Providence? Indeed Egypt, because it burns with the heats of neighboring Ethiopia, so as not to receive incurable corruptions of the air through the necessity of rains, has fields that receive not rain supplied by clouds but, in a way, an earthly rain from the flooding Nile.

“What shall we say of the springs and rivers that flow into the sea with perennial course? By divine Providence their abundant stream does not fail, nor does the sea, receiving such great quantities of waters, feel any increase; but both the elements that contribute and those that are brought together there continue in the same measure. But you say to me: ‘Salt water naturally consumes the fresh stream that is poured into it.’ Then in this too the work of Providence is plain, that it made salt that element into which it turned the course of all the waters it had provided for men's use, so that through such long ages the filled bed of the sea might not cause a ruinous flood for lands and men. Nor will anyone be so foolish as to think that so great a reason and so great a providence was arranged by irrational nature.

“And what shall I say of shrubs and of animals? Was it not done by providence that, when they were dissolved by old age, the shrubs should be renewed by the shoots or seeds they themselves produced, and the animals by offspring? And by a wonderful dispensation of Providence, milk is prepared in the udders for the animal about to be born, and as soon as it is born, with no one teaching it, it knows where to seek the storehouses of its nourishment. And not only males but also females are born, so that from both posterity may again exist. But so that these things might not seem, as men suppose, to be done by some order of nature and not by the dispensation of the Founder, he ordered a few kinds to keep their kind on earth with the order changed, as an indication and proof of his providence: for example, that the raven should conceive through its mouth and the weasel give birth through its ear; that some birds, such as the hen, should sometimes lay eggs conceived by wind or dust; that certain other animals should turn male into female by turns and change sex every year, such as hares and hyenas, which they call beasts; that others should spring from the earth and take their flesh from it, such as moles; others from ashes, such as vipers; others from rotting flesh—wasps from horses' and bees from cattle's; others from the dung of oxen, such as beetles; others from herbs, as the scorpion from basil; and again herbs from animals, as celery and asparagus from the horn of a stag or a goat.

“And what need is there to list more cases in which divine Providence, changing the order that is thought to be given by nature, willed the birth of animals to take place in many different ways, so that from them might be taught not an irrational course of things but its own dispensing reason? Or is not the work of divine Providence most fully shown in this too, that seeds cast into the earth and water are renewed for the life of men? When they have been committed to the earth, by the will of God the clod milks into the seeds, as from its breasts, the moisture it has received. For there is in the waters a certain power of spirit given by God from the beginning, by whose working the form of the future body begins to be shaped at once in the seed itself and is restored through stalk and ear. For when the grain of the seed is swollen by moisture, that power of spirit given to be in the waters, being incorporeal, runs through narrow channels of veins, rouses the seeds to growth, and shapes the forms of the growing things. So by the ministry of the moist element, in which that vital spirit is always implanted and inborn, it is brought about that not only is the seed renewed, but a form and shape in every way like the seeds that were cast returns. To whom with even a little sense will this reason seem to exist through irrational nature and not through divine wisdom? Indeed these things too are formed after the likeness of human birth; for the earth seems to hold the place of the womb, in which the seed cast is both formed and nourished through the power of water and spirit, as we said above.

“And in this too divine Providence is to be admired: that it makes us see and recognize what things come into being, but how and in what manner they come into being it has placed in secret and hidden, so that they may not lie open to the knowledge of the unworthy but may be disclosed to the worthy and faithful when they have deserved it. And so that we may prove by facts and examples that nothing at all is given to the seeds from the substance of the earth, but that the whole consists of the element of water and the power of the spirit that is in it: suppose, for example, that a hundred talents of earth are put into some very large vessel, and various kinds of seeds of vegetables or even shrubs are sown in it; let enough water be supplied to irrigate them, and let this care be kept up for many years; and let the seeds that are gathered—of wheat, for example, or barley and other kinds—be collected separately each year until the heap of each seed rises to the weight of a hundred talents; then let the trees too be pulled up by the roots and weighed; and when all these have been taken out of the vessel, let the earth be weighed: it will still give back its hundred talents intact. From where, then, shall we say that all that weight and all that quantity of various seeds and trees arose? Is it not plainly evident that it came from the waters? For the earth keeps what is its own intact, but the water poured in for each is nowhere at all, because of the mighty power of the divine creation, which through the one form of water both renews the substances of so many seeds and shrubs, shapes their forms, and preserves their kind with multiplied increase.

“From all this I think it is abundantly clear that all things are effected and the universe exists by a craftsman's intelligence and not by the work of irrational nature. But let us come further, if you please, to our own substance, that is, to man, who is a small world within another, and consider with how great reason he is composed; and from this especially you will understand the wisdom of the Founder. For though man consists of different substances, mortal and immortal, through the craftsmanlike providence of the Founder the diversity does not shun fellowship—and that of substances far removed from each other (foreign and different). For one is taken from the earth and formed by the Founder, the other is given from immortal substances; yet by such a union the honor of immortality is not impaired. Nor, as some think, (does the soul consist of a rational, a desiring, and an irascible part; rather, there seem to be in it certain) affections by which it can be moved to each of these. For the body, which consists of bones and flesh, takes its beginning from the seed of the man, which heat draws out from the marrow and deposits in the womb as in the earth; clinging to it and gradually watered from the fountain of blood, it is brought forth into flesh and bones and reshaped into the likeness of the author of the seed sown.

“And see in this the Craftsman's work: how he inserted the bones like columns by which the flesh might be supported and carried. Then an equal measure is kept on both sides, right and left, so that foot matches foot and hand hand, finger also finger, so that each corresponds to each in complete equality; and eye to eye and ear to ear, which are formed not only consonant and agreeing with each other but fit for necessary uses. The hands are formed to be convenient for work, the feet for walking, the eyes to serve sight, guarded by the sentinels of the eyebrows; the ears are so formed for hearing that, like a cymbal, they give back the sound of the word received more loudly and send it on to the perception of the heart. The tongue, striking against the teeth, performs the office of a plectrum for speaking. Of the teeth themselves, some cut and divide the food and pass it to the inner ones, and the inner ones grind and crush it like a mill, so that, passed to the stomach, it may be digested more suitably; whence they are also called molars.

“The nostrils too were made for the passage of breath, for giving it out and taking it in, so that by renewal of the breath the natural heat in the heart may be either kindled or cooled as the case requires, by the office of the lung, which has been set to cling to the breast, so that by its softness it may caress and cherish the vigor of the heart, in which life seems to reside—life, I say, not the soul. And what shall I say of the substance of the blood, which, like a river proceeding from its source, carried first in one channel and then diverted through innumerable veins as through plots of ground, waters the whole earth of the human body with life-giving streams, supplied by the work of the liver, which lies on the right side to effect the digestion of food and its change into blood? On the left side is the place of the spleen, which can draw to itself and in a way purge the impurities of the blood.

“And how great is the plan of the intestines! They are arranged in long coils in the manner of circles so that they may gradually expel the digested food they have received, so as neither to make their places suddenly empty nor be hindered by the food that is added on top. And the membranes are made in such a way that from them the outer parts may gradually receive moisture, which, if poured out suddenly, would not empty the inner parts, and, if held back by too thick a skin, would not leave the outer parts dry and disturb the whole fabric of man by the necessity of thirst.

“Further, the female arrangement and the hollow of the womb, most suited to receiving the seed and cherishing and quickening it—whom will it not persuade that what has been made was effected by reason and prudence, since the woman differs from the male form only in that part of the members by which the posterity sown is received and cherished, and again the male form is changed only in that part of the members in which lies the power of sowing and begetting man? In this a great testimony of Providence is given by the necessary diversity of members; but a greater one where, with likeness of form, there is found a diversity of use and variety of function. For men have breasts just as women do, but only women's are filled with the gift of milk, so that as soon as they have given birth, the little one may find nourishment suited to it. If, then, we see the members in man arranged with such reason that in all the rest there appears a similar form, and they differ only in those in which use requires diversity, and we see nothing superfluous or lacking in the man, nor anything wanting or excessive in the woman, who from all this does not plainly recognize the work of reason and the wisdom of the Founder?”

“This is confirmed also by the rational diversity of the other animals, each suited to its own use and service. This the variety of trees and the diversity of herbs attest, varied as much in form as in juices. This the change of seasons asserts, distinguished into four turns, closing the circle of the year in fixed hours, days, and months, and not exceeding by even one hour the appointed reason. Hence, indeed, even the age of the world itself is reckoned by a sure and stable reason, the number of years being computed.

“But you will say: ‘When was the world made, and why so late?’ You could put this forward even if it had been made earlier; for you would say, ‘Why not before that?’ And so, passing beyond immense ages, you could always ask, ‘Why not before that?’ But our discussion now is not about (why it was not made before it was made), but whether it was made at all. For if it is agreed that it was made, it is necessarily the work of a powerful and supreme craftsman; and if this is agreed, when he chose to make it must be left to the will and judgment of the wise craftsman. Unless it seems to you that all this wisdom, which built so immense a fabric of the world and gave forms and appearances to each and every thing, whose condition it made not only fitting for beauty but most apt and necessary for future uses, missed only this—when to choose the opportune time for so magnificent a creation. With him there is certainly a sure reason, there are evident causes, why and when and how he made the world; and it was certainly not right for these to be opened to men who were too lazy to inquire into and understand these things set before their eyes, which bear witness to his providence. For what is kept hidden and stored within the mind of wisdom, as in royal treasuries, lies open to no one except those who have learned from him with whom these things are sealed and laid up. It is God, then, who made all things, and he himself was made by no one. But those who name nature in place of God, and testify that all things were made by nature, do not see the error of their naming. For if they think nature irrational, it is most foolish that a rational work should proceed from an irrational maker. But if it is reason, that is, logos, through which all things are agreed to have been made, they change the name superfluously when they are professing the reason of the Founder. If you have anything against this, father, go on.”

When Niceta had said this, the old man answered thus: “You, my son, have argued prudently and strongly, so much so that I do not think anything better could be said about Providence. But since the hour is already late, tomorrow I wish to answer some things to what you have argued; and if you satisfy me about them, I confess myself in your debt.” When the old man had said this, Peter rose. One of the bystanders, the leading man of the Laodiceans, asked Peter and us to let him change the old man's clothes, which were dirty and torn. Peter and we embraced him, and, praising him for his honorable and excellent goodwill, said: “We are not so foolish and impious that, having entrusted such precious words to him, we would not much more provide also what is necessary for bodily uses; and we believe he will gladly accept them, as a father from his sons; indeed we believe that we shall share a roof and a common life.” While we were saying this, and that leading man of the city wished with all his might and with many coaxings to take the old man away from us, while we held on to him all the more strongly, the whole people cried out that what pleased the old man should rather be done. When silence had been made, the old man forestalled them with an oath, saying: “Today I will stay with no one and accept nothing from anyone, so that one man's love may not become another's sadness. These things can be done later, if it seems good.”

When the old man had said this, Peter said to the leading man of the city: “Since you have shown your goodwill in our presence, you must not go away sad; we will accept a favor from you in return for a favor. Show us your house and prepare it, so that the discussion that is to take place tomorrow may be held there, and let any who wish to be present to listen be admitted.” When the leading man of the city heard this he was very glad, and the whole people heard it gladly too. When the crowds had dispersed, he showed us his house; and the old man also began to leave. But I ordered one of my attendants to follow the old man's footsteps secretly and learn where he was staying. When we had returned to the lodging, we told the brothers everything we had had with the old man, and so, having taken food as usual, we rested.

On the next day Peter rose early, woke us, and we went together to the secluded place where we had been for prayer the day before. From there, after prayer, as we were coming to the appointed house, he admonished us on the way, saying: “Listen to me, dearest fellow servants. It is good that each of you, as far as he can, should help those who come to the faith of our religion. So do not be reluctant to instruct and teach the ignorant, discoursing according to the wisdom conferred on you by God's providence—but in such a way that you add only the eloquence of your own speech to what you have heard from me and what has been handed down to you. Do not utter anything of your own that has not been handed down to you, even if it seems plausible to you; but, as I said, set forth what I myself received from the true Prophet and handed down to you, even if it seems less fully argued. For it often happens that some turn aside from the truth because they believe that by their own thoughts they have found the appearance of a truer and stronger truth.”

We gladly agreed to what Peter said, telling him that we would do nothing except what seemed good to him. Then he said: “So that you may be exercised without danger, dispute one by one in my presence, so that one succeeds another and each unfolds his own questions. Now, since Niceta argued sufficiently yesterday, let Aquila make the discourse today, and after Aquila, Clement, and then I, if the matter requires me also to add something.” While we were exchanging such words, we came to the house, where the master of the household received us and brought us into a place built in the form of a theater and beautifully constructed, in which we found very great crowds who had been waiting for us since the night; among them was the old man who had disputed with us the day before. So we went in, with Peter in our midst, looking around to see the old man somewhere. Peter saw him first, hiding in the middle of the crowd, and called him to himself, saying: “Possessing a soul brighter than many, why do you hide in obscurity and cover yourself with modesty? Come here instead and set out what you think.”

When Peter said this, at once the crowds began to make room for the old man. When he had come forward, he began thus: “Of what the young man argued yesterday, even if I do not remember the words, I hold the sense and the order; and so I think it necessary, for the sake of those who were not present yesterday, to make a recapitulation of what was said and repeat it all briefly, so that if anything has escaped me I may be reminded by him who argued it, since he is present. This, then, was the sense of yesterday's discussion: that all things that are seen, since they consist in fixed measure and art, form and appearance, (are to be believed) without doubt to have been made by a wise power; (and that if it is mind and reason that founded them, it follows) that the world is ruled by the providence of reason itself, even if the things done in the world seem to us to be done less rightly. And it follows that if God, the creator of all, is also mind, he is also just; and if he is just, he necessarily judges; if he judges, men must be judged for their acts; and if each one is judged for his acts, there will one day be a just distinction between the just and sinners. This, I think, was the content of the whole discourse.

“If, then, it can be shown that mind and reason founded all things, it follows that what comes after is also conducted by reason and providence. But if a nature without foresight and blind begets all things, the reason for judgment is without doubt destroyed, and no examination of sins nor reward of good deeds will be hoped for where there is no judge. Since, then, everything depends on this and hangs on this head, do not be indignant if I wish to discuss and handle these things a little more fully. For in this point, as it were, the first door to everything proposed is closed to me, and so I want this opened to me before everything. Now, then, hear what I put forward, and let any of you who wishes answer me; for I will not be ashamed to learn, if I hear what is true, and to agree with one who speaks rightly. The discourse you gave yesterday, then, which asserted that all things consist by art and measure and reason, does not much persuade me that it was mind and reason that made the world; for I have many things that I can show consist in suitable measure and form and appearance, yet were not founded by mind and reason. Besides, I see many things done in the world confusedly, inconsistently, unjustly, and that nothing can happen without the course of birth-fate; which, after all else, I will prove most clearly from my own case.”

When the old man had said this, Aquila answered: “Since you yourself proposed that whoever wishes should have the opportunity to answer what you say, my brother Niceta grants me to make the discourse today.” The old man said: “Proceed as you wish, my son.” Aquila answered: “You promised that you would show that there are many things in the world which bear a form and appearance gathered with equal reason, which nevertheless are agreed not to be made by God the founder. Now show what you promised.” The old man said: “See, we see a bow in the sky holding a circle gathered with every measure and having the appearance of a true one, which perhaps neither mind could found nor reason describe; yet it is not made by any mind. There—I have put the whole in brief; answer this.”

Then Aquila said: “If something is impressed from a mold and form, it is not directly that thing which is understood to be from reason and unable to come about without mind; it is the mold itself, which impresses figures and forms, that was not made without mind. For example, if wax is pressed with an engraved ring, it takes its image and figure from the ring, which certainly lacks sense; but the ring that impresses the likeness was engraved by the hand of a craftsman, and it was mind and reason that gave the ring its mold. So too the bow is impressed on the air. For the sun, impressing its rays on thinning clouds and fixing the mold of its orb on the cloudy moisture as on soft wax, produces the appearance of the bow; and this, as I said, is effected by the reflection of the sun's splendor in the clouds, giving back from them the brightness of its circle. This does not happen always, but when the moist clouds, by thinning, provide the opportunity. Hence, again, when the clouds thicken and come together, the form of the bow dissolves and fades. Indeed the bow never appears without sun and clouds, just as an image is not impressed without a mold and wax or some other such material. It is no wonder, then, if God the founder made molds in the beginning, from which forms and appearances are now impressed. This is like the fact that God created insensible elements in the beginning, to use them for forming and unfolding all the rest. Those who form statues also first fashion a mold of clay or wax, and from it the likeness of the statue is produced; then a shadow too is cast by the statue, which shadow bears in every respect the form and likeness of the statue. What then shall we say—that the insensible statue forms a shadow gathered with as careful a reason as the statue itself? Or will the gathering of the shadow be ascribed without doubt to him who also fashioned the statue?”

“If, then, it seems to you that this is so and what has been said about it is enough, let us come to other inquiries; or if you think something is still lacking, let us go over it again.” The old man said: “I want you to go over it again; for there are many other things that I see come about in a similar way. For the fruits of trees are produced in a similar manner, beautifully formed and wonderfully gathered into roundness; and the appearance of leaves is formed with great beauty, and the green membrane is woven with exquisite art. And besides, fleas, mice, lizards, and things like these—shall we say that these too are made by God? So from these baser things one may conjecture about the better, that they are by no means formed by the art of a mind.” “You argue well,” said Aquila, “from the texture of leaves and from small animals, that faith should be withdrawn even from the better things on account of them. But do not let these things deceive you into thinking that God, working as it were with two hands only, cannot accomplish all that is made. Remember how my brother Niceta answered you yesterday, and opened a mystery before its time, truly as one speaking with his father, and explained why and how these things that seem useless are made.”

The old man said: “I should like to hear from you why these useless things are made by the will of that supreme mind.” Aquila said: “If it is clearly established for you that the work of mind and reason is in them, then you will not be reluctant to say why they were made, and to teach that they were justly made.” To this the old man answered: “I cannot, my son, say that the things that appear formed by art are made by mind, because of the other things we see done unjustly and without order in the world.” “If,” said Aquila, “the things done without order do not allow you to say that they were made by the providence of God, why do not the things done in order compel you to say that they were made by God, and that irrational nature cannot produce a rational work? For it is certain, and we do not at all deny it, that in this world some things are done in order and some without order. Believe, then, that the things done rationally are done by Providence, but that those done irrationally and without order happen naturally and occur by chance. But I wonder that men do not notice that where there is sense, things can be done both in order and without order, but where there is no sense, neither can be done at all. For reason makes order; but the course of order, if something contrary happens that disturbs the order, necessarily produces something disordered.” The old man said: “This very thing I want you to show me.”

“I will not delay,” said Aquila. “Two visible signs are shown in the sky, one of the sun, the other of the moon; and five other stars follow these, each unfolding its own different course. These, then, God placed in the sky, so that by them the temperature of the air might be regulated according to the reason of the seasons and the order of turns and changes kept. And by the ministry of these same bodies, whenever for the sins of men a plague and corruption is sent on the earth, the air is disturbed: pestilence on animals, blight on crops, a year pestilent in every way is brought on mortals; and so it comes about that by one and the same ministry order is both kept and corrupted. For even to unbelievers and the unskilled it is plain that the course of the sun, useful and necessary to the world and given by Providence, is always held in order; but the moon's course, compared with the sun's course, in its waxing and waning, seems to the unskilled disordered and irregular. For the sun moves by fixed and ordered distinctions: from it are the hours, from it the day when it rises, from it also night when it sets; by it months and years are numbered; by it the changes of seasons come about, as, climbing to the higher regions, it tempers spring, and when it has come to the height of heaven it kindles the summer heats; descending again it brings back the mildness of autumn; and when it has returned to the lower circle, it leaves us the stiffness of wintry cold from the icy framework of heaven.