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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

3.

Augustinus repondit: Quicquid de Enoch et de Helia et de Moyse scriptura sancta certis et magnis suae fidei documentis in summo culmine auctoritatis locata testatur, hoc credimus, non quod Faustus nos credere suspicatur. Quid sit autem secundum naturam, quid contra naturam, homines, qui sicut vos errant, nosse non possunt. Dici autem humano more contra naturam esse, quod est contra naturae usum mortalibus notum, nec nos negamus, sicut illud est quod apostolus ait: Si tu ex naturali incisus oleastro et contra naturam insertus es in bonam olivam; id esse contra naturam dixit, quod est contra consuetudinem naturae, quam notitia humana comprehendit, ut oleaster insertus in olea non oleastri baccas, sed olivae pinguedinem ferat. p. 731,3 Deus autem creator et conditor omnium naturarum nihil contra naturam facit; id enim erit cuique rei naturale, quod ille fecerit, a quo est omnis modus, numerus, ordo naturae. Sed nec ipse homo contra naturam quicquam facit, nisi cum peccat, qui tamen supplicio redigitur ad naturam. Ad naturalem quippe iustitiae ordinem pertinet, ut aut peccata non fiant, aut impunita esse non valeant. Quodlibet horum sit, naturalis ordo servatur, si non ab anima, certe a deo. p. 731,12 Vexant enim peccata conscientiam ipsique animo nocent, cum luce iustitiae peccando privatur, etiamsi non consequantur dolores, qui vel corrigendis ingeruntur vel non correctis ultimi reservantur. Sed contra naturam non incongrue dicimus aliquid deum facere, quod facit contra id, quod novimus in natura. Hanc enim etiam appellamus naturam, cognitum nobis cursum solitumque naturae, contra quem deus cum aliquid facit, magnalia vel mirabilia nominantur. Contra illam vero summam naturae legem a notitia remotam sive impiorum sive adhuc infirmorum tam deus nullo modo facit quam contra se ipsum non facit. Spiritalis autem eademque rationalis creatura, in quo genere et anima humana est, quanto amplius illius incommutabilis legis lucisque fit particeps, tanto magis videt, quid fieri possit quidve non possit; quanto autem remotior inde fuerit, eo magis miratur insolita, quo minus cernit futura. p. 732,1

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

3.

Augustin replied: As to Enoch and Elias and Moses, our belief is determined not by Faustus' suppositions, but by the declarations of Scripture, resting as they do on foundations of the strongest and surest evidence. People in error, as you are, are unfit to decide what is natural, and what contrary to nature. We admit that what is contrary to the ordinary course of human experience is commonly spoken of as contrary to nature. Thus the apostle uses the words, "If thou art cut out of the wild olive, and engrafted contrary to nature in the good olive." ¹ Contrary to nature is here used in the sense of contrary to human experience of the course of nature; as that a wild olive engrafted in a good olive should bring forth the fatness of the olive instead of wild berries. But God, the Author and Creator of all natures, does nothing contrary to nature; for whatever is done by Him who appoints all natural order and measure and proportion must be natural in every case. And man himself acts contrary to nature only when he sins; and then by punishment he is brought back to nature again. The natural order of justice requires either that sin should not be committed or that it should not go unpunished. In either case, the natural order is preserved, if not by the soul, at least by God. For sin pains the conscience, and brings grief on the mind of the sinner, by the loss of the light of justice, even should no physical sufferings follow, which are inflicted for correction, or are reserved for the incorrigible. There is, however, no impropriety in saying that God does a thing contrary to nature, when it is contrary to what we know of nature. For we give the name nature to the usual common course of nature; and whatever God does contrary to this, we call a prodigy, or a miracle. But against the supreme law of nature, which is beyond the knowledge both of the ungodly and of weak believers, God never acts, any more than He acts against Himself. As regards spiritual and rational beings, to which class the human soul belongs, the more they partake of this unchangeable law and light, the more clearly they see what is possible, and what impossible; and again, the greater their distance from it, the less their perception of the future, and the more frequent their surprise at strange occurrences.