2. Chapter V
Chapter V P art Two: On the Corruption and Loss of Natural Theology.
Natural theology, how far it survives after the entrance of sin — Its λείψανα [remnants], what they are and of what kind, demonstrated — What it is from the law of nature; its force, Rom. 2:14, 15 — The force of conscience — Atheists — That God can be known from his works is shown.
I. That primordial and native light of which we have hitherto treated was, as we said, extinguished through sin. Hence, all men are called blind — indeed, darkness itself; for that ἐνδιάθετος [internal] doctrine, together with the helps by which it was to be extended with respect to its object, was no longer capable of attaining its proper end. Whether this original theology, though corrupt and labouring under its own vitiation, is still surviving, we shall now see.
II. That there is still implanted in the hearts of men a sense of God as creator, governor, and judge, together with some indelible knowledge of good and evil in relation to the government of God, and of the distinction between the honourable and the base, is both confessed by almost all and
shall be proved by us. The apostle sets it out at Rom. 2:14, 15. Moreover, sinners possessed of reason still enjoy the benefit of contemplating the works of God. For it is not credible that sin has so overwhelmed the nature of men as to appear to have utterly shaken off the law of dependence and subjection inscribed upon their hearts by the Creator. We do not say that men are born furnished with some knowledge of God; they have none at all.
But we say they are born with the power of knowing; nor do they know and perceive in this natural manner — retaining an implanted power of knowing
God which stimulates toward rendering him some worship, and which will of itself assert itself in adults possessed of reason, no less certainly and necessarily than the act of reasoning itself — we have no reason to doubt, since we experience it.
III. But these things must be proved, since it is long since theologians taught us to distrust what we see and feel. First, therefore, we shall see that many λείψανα [remnants] of natural theology still survive in the minds of sinners; then, whatever they are, that they do not constitute true theology.
IV. We say therefore that human nature, though brought to so great a ruin by sin and for the most part reduced to the mere residue of itself, is still furnished with the relics of this theology. That God exists, and that he is such as the very reason of truth requires him to be — namely, best by reason of virtue, greatest by reason of benefits — this does not escape it.
This knowledge it reckons to itself as received from God the Creator. That law and reason which teaches and proclaims this truth still has force in our nature. That there is some law of nature is the voice of nature itself — that is, it bears testimony to itself. But wherever there is a law, it is necessary that some lawgiver be acknowledged; the author of the law of nature can be none other than the author of nature. This law, therefore, teaches that God
exists and is to be worshipped, and that right and justice are to be observed among men; as Scripture also testifies, Ps. 145:15; 141:7-9; Job 12:7-10;
37-39; Isa. 40:12; Matt. 6:26; Acts 17:26-28. The first dictate of this law concerning God is, Rom. 1:19: Τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φανερόν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς [What can be known of God is manifest in them] — that is, among the Gentiles, who have been given over to nature alone as their instructor.
Now this τὸ γνωστόν [knowable thing] of God is manifest not merely among them — that is, in some of them, namely the philosophers — but in them, in all of them, that is, through ἔμφυτον θεογνωσίαν [innate knowledge of God]. The same apostle also charges all men alike with having held down ἀλήθειαν [the truth] (concerning the nature and attributes of God, that is) ἐν ἀδικίᾳ [in unrighteousness], v. 18. But those who hold divine truth unjustly do retain some divine truth. Furthermore, this law inscribed in the hearts of all is said to be so victorious over all vices and prejudices that it affirms even the most wicked and profligate of all bipeds to be not ignorant of the judgment of God upon sinners to be punished, v.
32. But those who acknowledge the right of God to punish sins cannot be ignorant of the same right of his demanding obedience, nor of God himself.
Secondly, the same law exacts from all the moral obedience owed to God.
Having shown that God exists, it teaches that he is to be worshipped: Rom.
2:14, 15: Ὅταν γὰρ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ νόμον ἔχοντα (the written law, that is, such as was given to the Jews) φύσει (yet, by the force of the law inscribed in their hearts) τὰ τοῦ νόμου ποιῇ (what the written moral law commands), οὗτοι νόμον μὴ ἔχοντες (that is, written, or revealed immediately by God in any other manner) ἑαυτοῖς εἰσι νόμος (because namely they have that law innate in themselves); οἵτινες ἐνδείκνυνται τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου γραπτὸν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν [For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by
nature do the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts]. "The work of the law" — that is, what the law effects; an effect like itself — they show to be written or engraved in their hearts; that is, they have a law implanted, an ἐκτύπωμα [impression] or copy of the written law. It is necessary that this should answer to the written law precisely. But we know what the written law teaches and in whose name and by whose authority.
And the law which those who lack it have for themselves is ἀντίστροφος [correspondent] to it. Since therefore all men without exception have this law, inasmuch as it is of nature and from nature equally common to all; and since this law expresses that divinely revealed law which commands and forbids in the name of God; it is evident that all those who are by no means capable of living a life free from the authority of this law cannot but have some knowledge of God and acknowledge the moral obedience owed to him.
V. Of this truth, also conscience (as they say) is a thousand witnesses.
Hence, the apostle goes on to complete the remaining argument:
Συμμαρτυρούσης αὐτῶν τῆς συνειδήσεως, καὶ μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων τῶν λογισμῶν κατηγορούντων ἢ καὶ ἀπολογουμένων [Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts in the meantime accusing or else excusing one another]. That conscience is man's judgment concerning himself, with respect to the judgment of a superior, the thing itself proclaims; hence βροτοῖς ἅπασι συνείδησις Θεός [for all mortals conscience is God], in Menander. But he who is of such ὑπεροχῇ
[preeminence] as to have dominion and to exercise judgment in the hearts of men, is God. The natural κατηγορία [accusation] or ἀπολογία [defence] which is performed by the help of conscience in every man, therefore has
regard to none but God. But it is altogether impossible for anyone to wrest all power from this judge, who in all persons discharges the office of God.
How much would a Cain, a Judas, Neros, Caligulas, and even lesser monsters of crime, have paid to be free from its scourges? This condition of human nature must be acknowledged to be placed outside all the ways and reasonings of our counsel and will. None of the wise number conscience among those things they contend are ἐφ' ἡμῖν [in our power]. Those who would too eagerly make man absolute lord over himself in everything converted conscience into Furies, Alastors, Eumenides — torturers of their own right. Let sinners be secure as to their condition from the judgment of men, or unsolicitous of the ferocity of present things; let them despise to such a degree the extreme hazards of life and the sum of temporal things that they voluntarily inflict on themselves the ultimate penalty — this tribunal, when they are manifestly guilty of crime, they cannot flee. We have argued this matter elsewhere.
VI. But let the matter speak for itself. Do we not all experience the human mind to be so prone to giving assent to this truth — namely, that God exists
— so eager to run into its embrace, without which it would not merely be deprived of its dignity and honour and cast into the lowest order, but would even be ignorant of itself, that when the terms of which the proposition consists are spelled out, it is not permissible to dissent from it? Whether this happens by a certain impulse and instinct of nature — by which argument reason is both itself its own argument and sufficient for itself — or whether it employs the swiftest discursus and does not perceive that it has been reasoning until it has already with the whole consent of its mind yielded to the proposition in question: experience testifies that the human mind rests immutably in this truth. Plotinus speaks admirably to this effect, Enneads,
III, lib. 7, speaking of eternity, which he does not distinguish from God himself: Τὸν αἰῶνα, he says, καὶ τὸν χρόνον ἕτερον λέγοντες ἑκάτερον εἶναι, καὶ τὸν μὲν περὶ τὸν ἀΐδιον εἶναι φύσιν, τὸν δὲ χρόνον περὶ τὸ γινόμενον· καὶ τὸ δὲ τὸ πᾶν αὐτόθεν μὲν καὶ ὥσπερ ταῖς τῆς ἐννοίας ἀμφοτέραις ἐπιβολαῖς ἐναργές τε παρ' αὐτοῖς περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἔχειν πάθος νομίζομεν λέγοντες τε ἀεὶ καὶ παρὰ πάντα ὀνομάζομεν [Saying that eternity and time are each different from one another, and that the former pertains to everlasting nature while time pertains to that which comes into being; and that the whole of this we suppose to carry within our souls, as it were spontaneously and by both approaches of thought together, a certain manifest impression concerning these things, as we continually speak of them and name them on every occasion]. So be it; let there be impious men who would too earnestly wish God not to exist, indeed, who have dared openly to profess that they believe God does not exist; but since this supreme impiety and wickedness never fails to be accompanied by every other kind of villainy, who will persuade me that those impure scoundrels who sustain themselves in boldly calumniating human nature — with everything that partakes of it resisting — are not also lying shamelessly about themselves? Whatever the case may be, what madness would it be to give credence to three or four disgraces of human nature, not only against the constant and consenting voice of all good men, but of nature itself? "For he alone saw first that the gods exist, because nature itself had impressed the notion of them in the minds of all. For what nation is there, or what kind of men, which does not have, without instruction, some anticipation of the gods? which Epicurus calls πρόληψιν
[preconception] — that is, a certain previously conceived form of a thing in the mind, without which nothing can be understood, or inquired into, or
disputed," says Velleius in Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, Bk. I, ch. 16; and Seneca, Epistle 17: "We conclude that the gods exist, among other reasons, from the fact that the opinion of the gods is implanted in all, and there is no nation anywhere so abandoned against laws and customs as not to believe in some gods." That there is some God, Δόξαν καὶ ἐπίνοιαν κοινὴν τοῦ σύμπαντος ἀνθρωπίνου γένους ὁμοίως μὲν Ἑλλήνων, ὁμοίως δὲ βαρβάρων ἀναγκαίαν καὶ ἔμφυτον ἐν παντὶ τῷ λόγῳ γινομένην κατὰ φύσιν [is an opinion and conception common to the whole human race alike of Greeks and alike of barbarians, necessary and innate in every being that comes to possess reason by nature], says Dio of Prusa in his Orations; and hence Aristotle forbids entering into disputation with those who doubt whether the gods are to be worshipped, since this ought to be placed beyond controversy by the dictate of right reason. Οἱ μήν, he says, ἀποροῦντες πότερον δεῖ τοὺς Θεοὺς τιμᾶν, καὶ τοὺς γονεῖς ἀγαπᾶν ἢ οὐ, κολάσεως δέονται [Those who are in doubt whether it is necessary to honour the gods and to love one's parents, need punishment], Topics, Bk. I, ch. 9 — they are to be compelled by penalties, not convinced by arguments. The whole chorus of the wise, all of them, are of one and the same mind in this matter.
The Philosopher conjoins the worship of God and love of parents, which it is agreed come from nature. Justin calls these notions σπέρματα ἀληθείας παρὰ πᾶσι [seeds of truth among all], Apology II. "No soul is without fault, because no soul is without the seed of good," says Tertullian, On the Soul.
That men for the most part name the gods, assenting to πολυθεότητι [polytheism], is to be ascribed to corrupt traditions and prejudices prevailing against the native disposition of human nature: so Lactantius —
"What pardon for their impiety can those hope for, who do not acknowledge the worship of him whom it is unlawful for any man to be wholly ignorant
of? For even when they swear, when they make wishes, when they give thanks, they name not Jupiter or many gods, but God; so truly does truth itself burst forth from unwilling breasts, compelled by nature." And it is most true that in the midst of idolatries, this native and primordial light of reason so effectively asserted itself that it compelled most who were the most profuse in idol-worship to confess one God, supreme and greatest: Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ὁ πρῶτος καὶ μέγιστος ἐκεῖνος Θεὸς ὁ τεκτηνάμενος ἡμᾶς [And therefore especially that first and greatest God who fashioned us], in Dio, History, Bk. 56, concerning Tiberius Caesar. Aristotle, in his work On the World, adds the reason for πολυωνυμίας [the multiplicity of names]: Εἷς, he says, δὲ ὤν, πολυώνυμός ἐστι, κατωνομαζόμενος τοῖς πάθεσι πᾶσιν ἅπερ αὐτὸς νεοχμεῖ [Being one, he has many names, being named by all the effects which he himself introduces]. Julian bears distinguished testimony to this πρόληψιν [preconception] of human nature concerning God and the worship of him: Πάντες, he says, ἀδιδάκτους εἶναι θεῖόν τι πεπείσμεθα, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ἀφορᾶν, ἐπ' αὐτό τε οἶμαι σπεύδειν· οὕτω διατιθέμενοι τὰς ψυχὰς πρὸς αὐτὸ ὥσπερ οἶμαι πρὸς τὸ φῶς τὰ βλέποντα [We are all persuaded, without being taught, that some divinity exists, and that we must look toward it and, I believe, hasten to it; our souls being disposed toward it just as, I believe, those endowed with sight are disposed toward the light]. Hence, that ancient formula in use among those placed in dangers and perils of appealing against the injuries of others, that the gods exist. It was the voice of nature crying to the God of nature:
"While each man for himself clamours that the gods exist and do not neglect human affairs," Livy, Bk. III. And, "There is a heavenly power; there is great Jupiter," the same, Bk. VIII. So also it was with Sulla fearing the treachery of Bocchus's son Volux, in Sallust's Jugurthine War; and in
Plautus' Captivi: "There is indeed a God, who both hears and sees what we do." Cyprian admirably said in his work On the Vanity of Idols: "This is the sum of the fault: to be unwilling to acknowledge him whom you cannot be ignorant of." Eusebius also expounds this opinion admirably, Praeparatio
Evangelica, Bk. II, ch. 9: Φύσει μὲν οὖν καὶ αὐτοδιδάκτοις ἐννοίαις μᾶλλον δὲ θεοδιδάκτοις, καλόν τε καὶ ὠφέλιμον τυγχάνειν τὸ σημαῖνον τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσηγορίαν τε καὶ οὐσίαν, πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποι κοινοῖς λογισμοῖς προειλήφεσαν τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Δημιουργοῦ, τοῦτο πάσῃ λογικῇ καὶ νοερᾷ ψυχῇ φυσικαῖς ἐννοίαις ὑποσπείραντος [By nature therefore and by self-taught conceptions — or rather by conceptions taught by God — that which signifies the name and essence of God is found to be something excellent and most useful; for all men by common reasonings have had a prior conception of the Creator of all things, who has sown this into every rational and intelligent soul by natural notions]: "That excellent and above all useful thing which signifies the name and essence of God, led by nature itself and by notions impressed upon the soul from itself — or rather divinely inspired — no one fails to understand; for all peoples by a certain common sense of reason have received this, since the same Maker of this universe has sown it into every soul endowed with reason and intelligence by certain natural thoughts." 1 So he. And Tertullian, Against Marcion: "We define God to be first known by nature, then further known by doctrine."
And in the Apology: "Do you wish us to demonstrate it from the testimony of the soul itself" (that God exists and is one) "which, although pressed by the prison of the body, although limited by bad institutions, although enervated by lusts and concupiscences, although enslaved to false gods, yet when it comes to itself — as from debauch, as from sleep, as from some sickness — and suffers its own sanity, it names God; this alone, because the
one true God is properly good and great, and what God has given, is the voice of all. It also attests him as judge. God sees, and I commend it to God, and God will repay me. O testimony of the soul naturally Christian! Finally, when pronouncing these things it looks not toward the Capitol but toward heaven. For it knows the seat of the living God; from him and from thence it descended."
VII. Moreover, as most of the wise had noted these κοινὰς ἐννοίας [common notions] or προλήψεις [preconceptions], so also they had ascertained that force of conscience which we have set out. Menander:
Speaking of Tiberius, Annals, Bk. VI, ch. 6, Cornelius Tacitus: "To such a degree had his own crimes and villanies turned even upon himself for his punishment. Nor was the most excellent of the wise men wrong in affirming, when he used to say that if the minds of tyrants were laid open, they could be seen lacerated and beaten; since just as bodies are torn by lashes, so is the mind by savagery, lust, and evil counsels. Indeed, neither fortune nor solitude protected Tiberius from being compelled to confess the torments of his breast and his own punishments." Fear arising from the consciousness of sins, Cicero calls "the most savage master"; and "the wicked," he says, "are harassed and pursued by Furies, not with burning torches as in the fables, but with the anguish of conscience and the torment of fraud," On the Laws, Bk. I. Tiberius, continually tormented by that anguish, who had rejected all remedies — both the commission of fresh crimes, and withdrawal from the company of men, and the fear of vengeance — could not refrain from, wearied of himself, publicly confessing in a letter to the senate what torments he had endured in his breast. "What shall I write to you, conscript fathers," he said, "or how shall
I write, or what in the world shall I not write at this time? May the gods and goddesses destroy me more miserably than I feel myself daily perishing, if I know," Suetonius, Tiberius, ch. 61. Otho also, after the nefarious crime of slaying Galba, was so terrified that he attempted by every kind of piacular rite to propitiate the shade of Galba; according to the same witness. The Satirist speaks admirably:
"... Whose mind is cold ... the breast sweats with silent guilt." — Juvenal, Satire XI.
And again:
"But why do you think these men have escaped, whom a mind conscious of dire deeds holds amazed, and beats with a deaf blow, while an inward torturer shakes the secret scourge? They carry night and day in their breast a punishment far more severe than any which the stern Caelicus or Rhadamanthus invented — their own witness." — Satire XIII.
The Historian presents a striking example in Jugurtha, after the perpetration of innumerable crimes: "Nor after that," he says, "was any day or night quiet for Jugurtha; nor did he sufficiently trust any place, or any mortal, or any time. He feared citizens and enemies alike; looked about him on all sides and started at every noise; often rested at night in different places, contrary to the dignity of a king; was sometimes roused from sleep, took up arms and caused a tumult; being so agitated by a certain panic and frenzy." — Sallust, Jugurthine War.
And this is the first foundation, or the first part, of natural theology in the corrupt and sinful state; from which, whoever has not ceased to be a man cannot wholly cease to be a theologian.
VIII. Furthermore: from the contemplation of the works of God — both of creation and of providence — this residual knowledge of God can daily
be fostered and augmented; for this theology, such as it is, rests not on human nature alone but on the whole world.
IX. First, nothing can be said more expressly to this purpose than what the Psalmist has: Ps. 19:1-7, "The heavens declare the glory of the mighty God; and the expanse shows forth the works of his hands. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge," etc. This Psalm celebrates a twofold principle — or rather medium — of the revelation of God: namely, his works and his word. In comparing these with one another, it prefers the latter to the former in salvific effects (which indeed it ascribes entirely to this alone). But the former it demonstrates to declare the glory of God throughout the whole circle of the earth. The revealed matter mentioned here is the glory of God, and also the power which he put forth in the creation of all things; that is, as the apostle expresses it, ̓Αΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης [his eternal power and divinity], Rom. 1:20. The media of this revelation are the heavens and the sun, and the days and nights succeeding one another as they revolve in their circuit. The manner of this revelation is variously expressed: they are said to declare, to show forth, to utter, to manifest, to speak. All of these are metaphorical, but they sufficiently indicate efficacy toward the proposed end. Added in the way of circumstance is the fact that this revelation is catholic — extended, that is, to all the extremities of the inhabited world. The Psalmist does indeed add that this doctrine of the works of creation and of the providence of God is not sufficient for anyone rightly to know God and holily to worship him, since he attributes those effects entirely to his word, or to the doctrine contained in holy Scripture. But, meanwhile, he expressly affirms that the essence, glory, and power of God are so revealed through it that all the
inhabitants of the circle of the earth may thereby learn both that God exists and that he is infinitely separated from all the idols of the pagans.
X. The apostle confirms the same truth no less clearly at Rom. 1:18-20:
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; because that which can be known of God is manifest in them; for God has made it manifest to them. For his invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made
— namely his eternal power and divinity — so that they are without excuse." I am unwilling to entangle myself much with those things about these words that are controverted outside our present purpose. The putrid invention of the Socinians, twisting the words of the twentieth verse to the doctrine of the gospel, has long since been exposed. For the rest, the thing revealed is in general called τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ [what can be known of God]; specifically, his eternal power, divinity, and wrath, or vindicative justice. The media of revelation are the works of God — the things he made, namely the works of creation which have existed since the world was founded, and the works of providence which still operate from heaven. The manner is through a certain disclosure of these things innate to them, and the consideration of the mind which they indelibly occasion. This revelation attains through these media such a degree as to be called a manifestation of the things revealed among those to whom it is made. The end is ἀναπολογησία [inexcusability] — not absolute inexcusability indeed, but with respect to the use of the benefit of this revelation. Whether moreover τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ is rendered by "what can be known of God" or by "what ought to be known," the matter comes to the same thing; for it is not said absolutely, but with respect to that manifestation which comes through
the works of creation and of the providence of God — from which it can be known that God exists, that he is eternal, omnipotent, and just; and this ought to be known from these works; nor does the apostle extend that τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ [what can be known of God] further in this place. To be sure, those things which are natural to God, and necessary in respect of the exercise once the object is posited, whatever they may be, fall no less exactly under this manifestation than those of which express mention is made. But those whose exercise, all objects being posited, depends on the most free will of God — such as grace and mercy toward sinners — stand on a different footing. For of these there is no revelation except in Christ, which we have demonstrated more fully elsewhere.
XI. Nor less illustrious are those passages in which the Holy Spirit himself uses this very argument and proves from the works of God that God exists, that he is known, and that he ought to be worshipped. And who will prevent us from being wise according to the dictate of the Holy Spirit? For the rest, Ps. 8; 145:8-15; 147:4-6; Job 12:7-10; 37-39; Isa. 40:12; Matt.
6:26. This argument is pressed at length either by God himself or by the prophets in his name. To dwell on all of them would be too long and foreign to our purpose. Let us briefly run through two arguments of the same apostle to this end; the one at Acts 14:15-17, the other at ch. 17:24-28. The first runs as follows: "Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, announcing to you that you should turn from these vain things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are in them. Who yet did not leave himself without witness, doing good and giving us from heaven rains and appointed seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." These are the words of Paul and Barnabas defending themselves against the impious worship of the
Lystrans. First, they teach that the worship itself and the object of worship which they had devised for themselves are μάταια [vain] — that is, foolish and empty; then they designate the true God, both by the attribute of life and by the effect of his works. Namely, the living God is he who made heaven and earth. And they prove that he has borne to himself through the works of his providence such a testimony concerning himself that all could thereby know him and easily distinguish him from vain, dead, and worthless idols — what could be said more plainly? Οὐκ ἀμάρτυρον ἑαυτὸν ἀφῆκεν [He did not leave himself without witness] — that is, he testified both that he exists and that he governs this world by his providence; and this, by the works of his providence. Not indeed that he bore this testimony to himself to the end that men should savingly know him and be converted; for how could he seriously have intended this, when in the meantime he willingly permitted them to continue in their own ways?
But only to this end: that those who, spurning him, attached themselves to vain idols, should be ἀναπολόγητοι [without excuse].
XII. The apostle proceeds by the same mode of argument at Acts 17:2429. This περικοπήν [passage] of the apostolic speech, however, since it must be discussed at more length by us when we come to treat of the sufficiency of this revelation for salvation, we have not thought fit to expound further at present. And these teachers — that is, the works of God — the wise men celebrated even among the nations acknowledged. Οὐρανὸς οὐδέποτε παύεται διδάσκων ἀνθρώπους [Heaven never ceases to teach men], says
Plato in the Epinomis appended to the Laws. "And who is so blind that when he has looked up to the heavens he does not perceive that there are gods?" as Cicero in his Response to Aurus. And Zaleucus entered into his laws: Τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν πάντας πρῶτον
πεπεῖσθαι χρὴ καὶ νομίζειν θεοὺς εἶναι, καὶ ἀναβλέποντας εἰς οὐρανὸν, καὶ τὸν κόσμον, καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς διακόσμησιν, καὶ τάξιν, οὐ γὰρ τύχης, οὐδ' ἀνθρώπων εἶναι δημιουργήματα [All who inhabit the city and the country must first be persuaded and believe that the gods exist; and looking up to heaven and to the world and to the order and arrangement in them — for these are not the works of chance or of men], etc. In keeping with these,
Tatianus: Τοῦτο, he says, διὰ τῆς ποιήσεως αὐτοῦ ἴσμεν, καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀόρατον τοῖς ποιήμασι καταλαμβανόμεθα [This we know through his creation, and the invisible things of his power we comprehend through his works]. See Maximus of Tyre, Dissertation I; Maimonides, More
Nevukhim, Pt. I, ch. 34. It cannot indeed be denied that all those things which by their nature lead to the knowledge of God and some sense of his attributes are turned by many in a different direction and interpreted otherwise than they ought. We have seen most frequently that none are more inclined to atheism than those who profess to track down by every footprint the knowledge of all things — especially those which are hidden and concealed by nature — for they abuse the contemplation of all things, careless and negligent of their God, merely in order to satisfy the innate curiosity of the mind in considering the connections and knots of secondary causes. So also those who, over a long series of years, have pondered the vicissitudes of things, it frequently happens that so far from thereby understanding and fearing the πολυποικίλην [manifold] providence of God, they slide by their native vice — the blindness of the mind and the malice of the heart — into atheism. Hence arose the proverb that no old man fears
Jupiter; but these vices of certain men are not to be ascribed to human nature itself. The words of Aristotle as cited by Cicero in On the Nature of the Gods, Bk. II, are excellent — from which work they are taken it is
uncertain, for they nowhere appear in Aristotle himself: "If there were beings," he says, "who had always dwelt underground, in good and well-lit dwellings adorned with statues and pictures and furnished with all the things with which those who are considered blessed abound, and yet had never gone up above the earth — but had received by report and hearing that there is a certain divine power and force of gods — and then at some time the jaws of the earth were opened and they were able to escape from those hidden seats into these regions which we inhabit and come out; when they suddenly saw the earth and the seas and the sky, and perceived the magnitude of the clouds and the force of the winds, and looked upon the sun and recognised both its magnitude and beauty and also its power in creating the day by diffusing light through the whole sky; and when night darkened the earth, they saw the whole sky adorned and studded with stars, and the varying lights of the moon both waxing and waning, and the risings and settings of all these, and their fixed and unchangeable courses through all eternity — when they saw these things, they would surely judge both that the gods exist and that these great things are the works of the gods." To which may be added very many of the things which Cicero himself argues in that same place. The sum is: that some excellent and eternal nature exists and is to be wondered at and admired by the human race, the beauty of the world and the order of heavenly things compels us to confess; these are the words of the same Cicero in the second book On Divination.
1. Since Claude's translations of the Greek and Latin quotations of Eusebius are slightly different, we have retained them.