Augustine: Earlier Writings (continued)
ON FREE WILL 165 ' against your statement that without free choice men could not act rightly, and asserted instead that God gave it to that end, you replied that we should have been given free will just as we have been given justice which can only be used rightly. Your reply compelled us to travel the long circuitous route of discussion in order to prove that all good things, great and small, come from God alone. For that could not be clearly shown unless in the first place our poor reason, such as it is, should, with God's aid on our perilous journey, hit upon some evident answer in so great a matter to the opinions of impious folly such as the fool shows who says in his heart there is no God. These two propositions—that God exists, and that all good things come from him—we already held firmly by faith. But we have so thoroughly discussed them that the third proposition too that free will is to be numbered among the things which are good—has been made clear.
48. In our previous discussion it was made obvious, and was agreed by us both, that body occupies by nature a lower rank in the scale of being than does soul; and that therefore soul is a greater good than body. If, then, we find among the good things of the body some that a man can abuse, and yet cannot on that account say that they ought not to have been given, since we admit that they are good, it should not be matter for surprise if iji the soul too there are some good things which may be abused, but which, because they are good, could only have been given by him from whom all good things come. You see of how much good a body is deprived if it has no hands, and yet a man makes a bad use of his hands who uses them to do cruel or base deeds. If you see a man without feet you will admit that, from the point of view of the wholeness of his body, a veiy great good is wanting. And yet you would not deny that a man makes a bad use of his feet who uses them to hurt another or to dishonour himself. With the eyes we see the light and distinguish the forms of bodies. Sight is the most splendid possession our bodies have, and for that reason the eyes are set in a place of great dignity. By the use of them we look after our safety and enjoy many other advantages in life. Yet many people use their ^yes for many base purposes, compelling them to serve the interests of lust. You see how much good is lost to the human face if it has no eyes. Now who has given us eyes if not God, the bountiful giver of all good things? Just as you approve these good things which the body enjoys, and praise him who has \ given them, paying no attention to those who make a bad use