By Water & Blood

On Providence

On Providence.

This opinion concerning soul and body the Church has been taught from the divine oracles. And it knows the God of all not only as creator, but also as caretaker and steward and pilot of all. For it is among the most absurd things to say that he made the whole universe not for any need of his own but for philanthropy alone, yet neglects what he made and overlooks creation like some ship without ballast and without a pilot, driven this way and that by contrary winds and dashed against reefs and rocks.

For we abhor the atheism of those around Diagoras; and we also detest Epicurus, who grants that there is a God, yet says that this one has turned toward himself and perceives nothing of what happens in creation. And we also accuse the providence of Aristotle; for he set the moon as its limit, accusing it of one of two things, either inability or reluctance: for either it does not have power sufficient for the care of all, or, being able, yet reluctant, it has left our affairs unpiloted. But each is full of blasphemy. For he who willed to create even the smallest parts of creation—how could he be called unable? And how would he neglect through reluctance these things which he made through the abyss of goodness?

But Plato’s providence sufficiently refutes their folly. For that man said—and those who hold his views as well—that the God of all provides for all things. And with God providing, the myth of fate, together with the Fates and their threads, is driven out. For it is the height of folly, when God is piloting, to introduce another pilot to the ship of the inhabited world.

But the discourse must distinguish which things depend on the rudders of Providence, and which have been assigned to the rational faculty of the soul, and which are natural, and which are called by the same name though they are not evils but are thought to be.

Of human affairs, then, those that are good by nature are prudence and temperance and justice and courage and the other parts of virtue; and evils are folly and unchastity and injustice and cowardice and the other things like these. But wealth and poverty and slavery and mastery and health and illness and the other good fortunes and misfortunes of human life hold a middle lot. For they lie before human beings like certain instruments. And the best of human beings construct virtue through each of the things mentioned. For one can find both those who flourish in wealth and those who live with poverty practicing virtue, and hymning the benefactor in health, and enduring patiently in illness, and slaves distinguished by temperance and justice; and again others, some embracing wickedness in poverty and daring not only theft of cloaks but also robbery of corpses and sacrilege, and others making wealth an instrument of injustice, and in health using disdain and pride, and in illnesses belching forth blasphemous words. Through these it is easy to learn that by the use of those who pursue them, wealth and poverty and slavery and mastery and things like these are now praiseworthy, now blameworthy.

Just as we also now call iron a coworker of human life—through plow and mattock and hoe tilling the earth, through sickle pruning plants, through adze and saw providing constructions of houses and various vessels—yet some now name it a plotter, seeing the sword and the slaughters that have come about through it. But neither is the sword the cause of the slaughters, but the one who used the sword badly; nor are wealth and poverty and the other good fortune and misfortune of life worthy of accusation, but those who used each of these contrary to the laws. For if each of these were wicked by nature, it would not have become a cause of good things for some. Yet we find many who have accomplished virtue through these. Therefore neither is that which becomes an instrument of good an evil, nor again is the tool that becomes for another an instrument toward wickedness a good. It holds, then, the middle rank, like medicines. For opium and hemlock, if judged best by physicians, become antidotes; but if taken contrary to the principle of the art, they are poisons and destructive. And there are times when bread and wine bring disease upon those who use them; for excess generates injury. Thus also prosperity and adversity: those who pilot them wisely construct saving medicines; but those who do so foolishly and without understanding receive through these occasions of destruction.

These things, then, and whatever is like them—fruitfulness of the earth and barrenness, fair sailing and shipwreck—depend on divine providence. Therefore all must love what comes about from it, and not be busybodies about the causes; for the account of the divine rudders is unreachable. But they must care for what is in our power, and strip away wickedness altogether, and settle virtue within, and brighten themselves with its parts; and just as women who love adornment brighten the body with the cosmetic art, so adorn the beauty of the soul with the flowers of temperance and justice and courage and prudence. For the acquisition of these is in our power. And it is the height of folly to seek the acquisition of what is not in our power—and that subject to swift and sharp changes—while despising, as cheap and worth no account, what falls under our authority and is both glorious and lasting and permanent.

If we come to know this division of human affairs, we shall love the movements of the divine tillers, and shall not waver concerning the Providence that pilots all things. For we see the seasons of the year alternating in order, and all things growing in due time, and each coming to be according to season. For it is not according to the most wanton fables of Manes that the rulers of matter, longing for the daughter of light and pursuing her, sweat and supply the rain; but the Creator of all nods, and the clouds are formed. And divine Scripture clearly teaches this. For “He who brings up clouds,” it says, “from the ends of the earth has made lightnings into rain, he who brings forth winds from his treasuries.” And again: “He who calls the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth.” And again: “His spirit will blow, and waters will flow.” And elsewhere: “Watering mountains from his upper chambers, from the fruit of your works the earth will be satisfied. He who causes grass to spring up for the cattle, and green herb for the service of human beings, to bring forth bread from the earth.” And one can find countless other things in divine Scripture showing God’s providence.

But having already composed ten discourses on providence, I think it superfluous to broaden this discourse now.