And so of the rest, which I am weary of reciting, and in which, though there seems to be an extraordinary property contrary to nature, yet no other reason is given for them than this, that this is their nature,--a brief reason truly, and, I own, a satisfactory reply.But since God is the author of all natures, how is it that our adversaries, when they refuse to believe what we affirm, on the ground that it is impossible, are unwilling to accept from us a better explanation than their own, viz., that this is the will of Almighty God,--for certainly He is called Almighty only because He is mighty to do all He will,--He who was able to create so many marvels, not only unknown, but very well ascertained, as I have been showing, and which, were they not under our own observation, or reported by recent and credible witnesses, would certainly be pronounced impossible? For as for those marvels which have no other testimony than the writers in whose books we read them, and who wrote without being divinely instructed, and are therefore liable to human error, we cannot justly blame any one who declines to believe them.
For my own part, I do not wish all the marvels I have cited to be rashly accepted, for I do not myself believe them implicitly, save those which have either come under my own observation, or which any one can readily verify, such as the lime which is heated by water and cooled by oil; the magnet which by its mysterious and insensible suction attracts the iron, but has no affect on a straw; the peacock's flesh which triumphs over the corruption from which not the flesh of Plato is exempt; the chaff so chilling that it prevents snow from melting, so heating that it forces apples to ripen; the glowing fire, which, in accordance with its glowing appearance, whitens the stones it bakes, while; contrary to its glowing appearance, it begrimes most things it burns (just as dirty stains are made by oil, however pure it be, and as the lines drawn by white silver are black); the charcoal, too, which by the action of fire is so completely changed from its original, that a finely marked piece of wood becomes hideous, the tough becomes brittle, the decaying incorruptible.Some of these things I know in common with many other persons, some of them in common with all men; and there are many others which I have not room to insert in this book.But of those which Ihave cited, though I have not myself seen, but only read about them, I have been unable to find trustworthy witnesses from whom I could ascertain whether they are facts, except in the case of that fountain in which burning torches are extinguished and extinguished torches lit, and of the apples of Sodom, which are ripe to appearance, but are filled with dust.And indeed I have not met with any who said they had seen that fountain in Epirus, but with some who knew there was a similar fountain in Gaul not far from Grenoble.The fruit of the trees of Sodom, however, is not only spoken of in books worthy of credit, but so many persons say that they have seen it that I cannot doubt the fact.But the rest of the prodigies I receive without definitely affirming or denying them; and I have cited them because I read them in the authors of our adversaries, and that I might prove how many things many among themselves believe, because they are written in the works of their own literary men, though no rational explanation of them is given, and yet they scorn to believe us when we assert that Almighty God will do what is beyond their experience and observation; and this they do even though we assign a reason for His work.For what better and stronger reason for such things can be given than to say that the Almighty is able to bring them to pass, and will bring them to pass, having predicted them in those books in which many other marvels which have already come to pass were predicted? Those things which are regarded as impossible will be accomplished according to the word, and by the power of that God who predicted and effected that the incredulous nations should believe incredible wonders.
CHAP.8.--THAT IT IS NOT CONTRARY TO NATURE THAT, IN AN OBJECT WHOSENATURE IS
KNOWN, THERE SHOULD BE DISCOVERED AN ALTERATION OF THE PROPERTIES WHICHHAVE
BEEN KNOWN AS ITS NATURAL PROPERTIES.
But if they reply that their reason for not believing us when we say that human bodies will always burn and vet never die, is that the nature of human bodies is known to be quite otherwise constituted;if they say that for this miracle we cannot give the reason which was valid in the case of those natural miracles, viz., that this is the natural property, the nature of the thing,--for we know that this is not the nature of human flesh,--we find our answer in the sacred writings, that even this human flesh was constituted in one fashion before there was sin,--was constituted, in fact, so that it could not die,--and in another fashion after sin, being made such as we see it in this miserable state of mortality, unable to retain enduring life.And so in the resurrection of the dead shall it be constituted differently from its present well-known condition.But as they do not believe these writings of ours, in which we read what nature man had in paradise, and how remote he was from the necessity of death,--and indeed, if they did believe them, we should of course have little trouble in debating with them the future punishment of the damned,--we must produce from the writings of their own most learned authorities some instances to show that it is possible for a thing to become different from what it was formerly known characteristically to be.
From the book of Marcus Varro, entitled, Of the Race of the Roman People, I cite word for word the following instance: