Teaching Christianity
according to the flesh (Rom 9:5). Thus from a consideration and comparison of times and dates, it becomes much more credible that these men derived from our literature whatever good and true things they had to say, than that our Lord derived his teaching from the writings of Plato, which it is indeed the sheerest lunacy to believe.
44. But while it is in historical narratives that we are told about human institutions of the past, history itself must not be counted among human inventions, because what has been done in the past cannot now become undone; it has to be held in the succession of times, which have been established and are being controlled by God. It is one thing, after all, to tell the story of what has been done, another to teach what has to be done. History faithfully and usefully narrates what has been done, while the books of the soothsayers and similar literature have the intention of teaching what is to be done and what observances are to be kept, and this in the hectoring tones of a warning, not in the calm voice of reliable evidence.
29, 45. Narrative also resembles description, by which it is not past but present realities that are brought to the attention of those who are unaware of them. To this category belongs all that has been written about geography, and the nature of animals, trees, herbs, stones and other material bodies. We dealt with this category earlier on,[100] and taught that such knowledge is of value for solving the riddles of scripture, not suggesting, of course, that these should be treated as signs of a sort, to be used as remedial spells or tricks of the superstition trade,[101] since we have already set that kind of thing distinctly apart from this lawful and liberal realm of knowledge. It is one thing, after all, to say, "If you crush this herb and drink an infusion of it, your stomach pains will cease," and another to say, "If you hang this herb round your neck, your stomach pains will cease." In the first case one can approve of a wholesome infusion, in the other