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 at once to our eyes from fruits and living things, are quite distinct from the hidden seeds of those former seeds; whence, 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 these several kinds, as that the power of production was exhausted in those pro- ducts; but for the most part, suitable combinations of circum- stances 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 1 Job i. and ii. = Cen. i. 20-25.
CHAP. VIIL] how the ANGELS WORK MIRACLES. 91 a tree. But of this shoot there is a yet more subtle seed in some grain of the same species, and this so far visible to us. But of this grain also there is further still a seed, which, although we are unable to see with our eyes, yet we can con- jecture its existence from our reason; because, except there were some such power in those elements, there would not so generally be produced from the earth things which had not been sown there; nor yet so many animals, without any pre- vious 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, re- ceives 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 corn, — although it is by the outward application of their actions that the goodness 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 crea- tors, if, through the subtilty 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 ele- ments, 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 right- eously permits. For the malice of the wicked one makes his own will wrongful; but the power he receives 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.
14. Accordingly, the Apostle Paul, distinguishing God cre- ating and forming within, from the works of the creature which are applied from without, and drawing a similitude 92 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK III from agriculture, says, " I planted, ApoUos watered; but God gave the increase.'^ As, therefore, in the case of life itself, no one except God can work justification 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 by accident; ^ 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, accord- ing 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 acjriculture 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 corn crop, which I see to have sprung up through their labour.
15. Just as Jacob, again, was not the creator of the colours in the flocks, because he placed the various coloured 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 contemplating of the varied rods, clave to their soul, but could only affect the body that was animated by the spirit thus affected through sympathy with this commingling, so far as to stain with colour 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 un- changeable, 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 colour of the cattle conceived should be in any degree influenced by the variety of the rods, came to pass through the 1 1 Cor. iii. 6. ^ pi^Q. i. 13, 3 q^^^^ ^^^ 4^^ CHAP. IX.] GOD THE FIRST CAUSE. 93 soul of the pregnant cattle being affected throngli 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 chang- ing 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 colours in the lambs and kids; nor yet even the souls themselves of the mothers, which coloured the seeds conceived in the flesh by the image of variegated colour, conceived through the eyes of the body, so far as nature permitted it; much less can it be said that the creators of the fross and serpents were the bad angels, through whom the magicians of Pharaoh then made them.
Chap. ix. — The original cause of all things is from God.
16. For it is one thing to make and administer the crea- ture 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, that that which 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 94 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK III.
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 or- dered 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.
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 i^roduced, 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 difiiculty, in pro- portion 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 pro- portion as it is easier for them to draw out the proximate CHAP. IX.] THE ANGELS HAVE THEIR POWER FROM GOD ONLY. 9 5 causes from the elements, so much the more marvellous is their rapidity in works of this kind.
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 un- speakable 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 men- tions 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.
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 vapours 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 96 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK III.
monsters, and earthquakes, and such like; — excepting, I say, all these, 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 vapour, 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." ^ Chap. x. — In Jioio many loays the creature is to he taken by way of sign. TJie Eucharist.
Omitting, however, 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 pro- perly 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 exist- ing, 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 saith the Lord,"^ or any other such phrase, but sometimes Avithout any such prefix, they take upon themselves the very person of God, as e.g.: "I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go: " ^ so, not only in word, but also in act, the signify- ing 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 1 Ps. cxlviii. 8. 2 jer. xxxi. 1, 2. ^ pg^ xxxii. 8. * 1 Kings xi. 30, 31.
CHAP. X.] APPEARANCES OF ANGELS. 9 7 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 w^aking 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. 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 unknown; but they are known and easy to them as being their own actions. An angel speaks in the per- son 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 thee, 0 Israel: I am the Lord thy God." * A rod was taken to serve as a sign, and w^as 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. Eor as the anointing de thin. G 98 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK III.
of the stone signified Christ in tlie 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 believeth 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 ser- pent 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.
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 5 Gen. iii. « Col. i. 24. ' Ex. iv. 4.? Ex. vii. 12.
CHAP. X.] APPEAEANCES OF ANGELS. 9 9 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 respect- ing 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. Eor the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind, that museth upon many things. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us; but the things that are in heaven, who hath searched out? " But because it goes on to say, " And Thy counsel who hath known, except Thou give wisdom, and send Thy 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 change-