of this good creation of a good Creator, and who think that
there is some natural evil._
This cause, however, of a good creation, namely, the goodness of
God,--this cause, I say, so just and fit, which, when piously and
carefully weighed, terminates all the controversies of those who
inquire into the origin of the world, has not been recognised by
some heretics,[490] because there are, forsooth, many things, such
as fire, frost, wild beasts, and so forth, which do not suit but
injure this thin-blooded and frail mortality of our flesh, which is
at present under just punishment. They do not consider how admirable
these things are in their own places, how excellent in their own
natures, how beautifully adjusted to the rest of creation, and how
much grace they contribute to the universe by their own contributions
as to a commonwealth; and how serviceable they are even to ourselves,
if we use them with a knowledge of their fit adaptations,--so that
even poisons, which are destructive when used injudiciously, become
wholesome and medicinal when used in conformity with their qualities
and design; just as, on the other hand, those things which give us
pleasure, such as food, drink, and the light of the sun, are found to
be hurtful when immoderately or unseasonably used. And thus divine
providence admonishes us not foolishly to vituperate things, but to
investigate their utility with care; and, where our mental capacity
or infirmity is at fault, to believe that there is a utility, though
hidden, as we have experienced that there were other things which
we all but failed to discover. For this concealment of the use of
things is itself either an exercise of our humility or a levelling
of our pride; for no nature at all is evil, and this is a name for
nothing but the want of good. But from things earthly to things
heavenly, from the visible to the invisible, there are some things
better than others; and for this purpose are they unequal, in order
that they might all exist. Now God is in such sort a great worker in
great things, that He is not less in little things,--for these little
things are to be measured not by their own greatness (which does
not exist), but by the wisdom of their Designer; as, in the visible
appearance of a man, if one eyebrow be shaved off, how nearly nothing
is taken from the body, but how much from the beauty!--for that is
not constituted by bulk, but by the proportion and arrangement of
the members. But we do not greatly wonder that persons, who suppose
that some evil nature has been generated and propagated by a kind of
opposing principle proper to it, refuse to admit that the cause of
the creation was this, that the good God produced a good creation.
For they believe that He was driven to this enterprise of creation
by the urgent necessity of repulsing the evil that warred against
Him, and that He mixed His good nature with the evil for the sake
of restraining and conquering it; and that this nature of His,
being thus shamefully polluted, and most cruelly oppressed and held
captive, He labours to cleanse and deliver it, and with all His pains
does not wholly succeed; but such part of it as could not be cleansed
from that defilement is to serve as a prison and chain of the
conquered and incarcerated enemy. The Manichæans would not drivel,
or rather, rave in such a style as this, if they believed the nature
of God to be, as it is, unchangeable and absolutely incorruptible,
and subject to no injury; and if, moreover, they held in Christian
sobriety, that the soul which has shown itself capable of being
altered for the worse by its own will, and of being corrupted by sin,
and so, of being deprived of the light of eternal truth,--that this
soul, I say, is not a part of God, nor of the same nature as God, but
is created by Him, and is far different from its Creator.