Chapter III.—Some Truths Held Even by the Heathen. They Were, However, More Often Wrong Both in Religious Opinions and in Moral Practice.  The Heathen Not to Be Followed in Their Ignorance of the Christian Mystery. The Heretics Perversely Prone to Follow Them.

One may no doubt be wise in the things of God, even from one’s natural powers, but only in witness to the truth, not in maintenance of error; (only) when one acts in accordance with, not in opposition to, the divine dispensation.  For some things are known even by nature: the immortality of the soul, for instance, is held by many; the knowledge of our God is possessed by all. I may use, therefore, the opinion of a Plato, when he declares, “Every soul is immortal.”  I may use also the conscience of a nation, when it attests the God of gods. I may, in like manner, use all the other intelligences of our common nature, when they pronounce God to be a judge. “God sees,” (say they); and, “I commend you to God.”24    Compare the De Test. Anim. ii., and De Anim. xlii. But when they say, “What has undergone death is dead,” and, “Enjoy life whilst you live,” and, “After death all things come to an end, even death itself;” then I must remember both that “the heart of man is ashes,”25    Isa. xliv. 20. according to the estimate of God, and that the very “Wisdom of the world is foolishness,” (as the inspired word) pronounces it to be.26    1 Cor. i. 20, iii. 19. Then, if even the heretic seek refuge in the depraved thoughts of the vulgar, or the imaginations of the world, I must say to him: Part company with the heathen, O heretic! for although you are all agreed in imagining a God, yet while you do so in the name of Christ, so long as you deem yourself a Christian, you are a different man from a heathen: give him back his own views of things, since he does not himself learn from yours. Why lean upon a blind guide, if you have eyes of your own? Why be clothed by one who is naked, if you have put on Christ? Why use the shield of another, when the apostle gives you armour of your own? It would be better for him to learn from you to acknowledge the resurrection of the flesh, than for you from him to deny it; because if Christians must needs deny it, it would be sufficient if they did so from their own knowledge, without any instruction from the ignorant multitude. He, therefore, will not be a Christian who shall deny this doctrine which is confessed by Christians; denying it, moreover, on grounds which are adopted by a man who is not a Christian. Take away, indeed, from the heretics the wisdom which they share with the heathen, and let them support their inquiries from the Scriptures alone:  they will then be unable to keep their ground. For that which commends men’s common sense is its very simplicity, and its participation in the same feelings, and its community of opinions; and it is deemed to be all the more trustworthy, inasmuch as its definitive statements are naked and open, and known to all. Divine reason, on the contrary, lies in the very pith and marrow of things, not on the surface, and very often is at variance with appearances.

CAPUT III.

Est quidem et de communibus sensibus sapere in Dei rebus; sed in testimonium veri, non in adjutorium falsi; quod sit secundum divinam, non contra divinam dispositionem. Quaedam enim et natura nota sunt, ut immortalitas animae penes plures, ut Deus noster penes omnes. 0798C Utar ergo et sententia Platonis alicujus pronuntiantis: Omnis anima immortalis. Utar et conscientia populi, contestantis Deum deorum. Utar et reliquis communibus sensibus, qui Deum judicem praedicant: Deus videt; et: Deo commendo. At cum aiunt: Mortuum, quod mortuum; et: Vive, dum vivis; et: Post mortem omnia finiuntur, etiam ipsa; tunc meminero, et cor vulgi cinerem a Deo deputatum 0799A et ipsam sapientiam saeculi stultitiam pronuntiatam. Tum si et haereticus ad vulgi vitia, vel saeculi ingenia confugerit: Discede, dicam, ab ethnico, haeretice; etsi unum estis omnes, qui Deum fingitis , dum hoc tamen in Christi nomine facis, dum christianus tibi videris, alius ab ethnico es: redde illi suos sensus, quia nec ille de tuis instruitur. Quid caeco duci inniteris, si vides ? Quid vestiris a nudo, si Christum induisti? Quid alieno uteris clypeo, si ab apostolo armatus es? Ille potius a te discat carnis resurrectionem confiteri, quam tu ab illo diffiteri: quia si et a christianis negari eam oporteret, sufficeret illis de sua scientia, non de vulgi ignorantia instrui. Adeo non erit christianus, qui eam negabit, quam confitentur Christiani, et his argumentis 0799B negabit, quibus utitur non christianus . Aufer denique haereticis quae cum ethnicis sapiunt; ut de Scripturis solis quaestiones suas sistant , et stare non poterunt. Communes enim sensus simplicitas ipsa commendat, et compassio sententiarum , et familiaritas opinionum; eoque fideliores existimantur, quia nuda et aperta et omnibus nota definiunt.