Why They Sometimes Come True.
1706.
Yet if any one say, What is the use of this,
that they should be permitted even sometimes to speak truth,
and thereby so much error be introduced among men?
1707.
Let him take this for answer:
1708.
If they had never been allowed to speak any truth, then they would not foretell anything at all;
while if they did not foretell, they would not be known to be demons.
1709.
Yet if demons were not known to be in this world, the cause of our struggle and contest would be concealed from us, and we should suffer openly what was done in secret,
that is, if the power were granted to them of only acting against us, and not of speaking.
1710.
Yet now, since they sometimes speak truth, and sometimes falsehood,
we ought to acknowledge, as I have said,
that their responses are of demons, and not of God, with whom there is never falsehood.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER FIFTY NINE
Divisions 1711-1740
Book 4
RECOGNITIONS 4
Evil Not in Substance.
1711.
But if any one, proceeding more curiously, inquire:
What then was the use of God's making these evil things,
which should have so great a tendency to subvert the minds of men?
1712.
To one proposing such a question,
we answer that we must first of all inquire whether there is any evil in substance.
1713.
And although it would be sufficient to say to him that it is not suitable that the creature judge the Creator, yet that to judge the work of another belongs to him who is either of equal skill or equal power; yet, to come directly to the point, we say absolutely that there is no evil in substance.
1714.
But if this be so, then the Creator of substance is vainly blamed.
Why God Permits Evil.
1715.
Yet you will meet me by saying,
Even if it has come to this through freedom of will,
was the Creator ignorant that those whom He created would fall away into evil?
1716.
He ought therefore not to have created those who,
He foresaw, would deviate from the path of righteousness.
1717.
Now we tell those who ask such questions, that the purpose of assertions of the sort made by us is to show why the wickedness of those who as yet were not,
did not prevail over the goodness of the Creator.
1718.
For if, wishing to fill up the number and measure of His creation,
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He had been afraid of the wickedness of those who were to be, and like one who could find no other way of remedy and cure, except only this, that He should refrain from His purpose of creating,
lest the wickedness of those who were to be should be ascribed to Him;
1719.
what else would this show but unworthy suffering and unseemly feebleness on the part of the Creator,
who should so fear the actings of those who as yet were not,
that He refrained from His purposed creation?
Evil Beings Turned to Good Account.
1720.
Yet, setting aside these things, let us consider this earnestly, that God the Creator of the universe,
foreseeing the future differences of His creation,
foresaw and provided diverse ranks and different offices to each of His creatures,
according to the peculiar movements which were produced from freedom of will;
1721.
so that while all men are of one substance in respect of the method of creation,
there should yet be diversity in ranks and offices,
according to the peculiar movements of minds, to be produced from liberty of will.
1722.
Therefore He foresaw that there would be faults in His creatures;
and the method of His justice demanded that punishment should follow faults,
for the sake of amendment.
1723.
It behooved, therefore, that there should be ministers of punishment,
and yet that freedom of will should draw them into that order.
1724.
Moreover, those also must have enemies to conquer,
who had undertaken the contests for the heavenly rewards.
1725.
Thus, therefore, neither are those things destitute of utility which are thought to be evil,
since the conquered unwillingly acquire eternal rewards for those by whom they are conquered.
1726.
Yet let this suffice on these points,
for in process of time even more secret things shall be disclosed.
Evil Angels Seducers.
1727.
Now therefore, since you do not yet understand how great darkness of ignorance surrounds you, meantime I wish to explain to you whence the worship of idols began in this world.
1728.
And by idols, I mean those lifeless images which you worship, whether made of wood,
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or earthenware, or stone, or brass, or any other metals: of these the beginning was in this wise.
1729.
Certain angels, having left the course of their proper order,
began to favour the vices of men, and in some measure to lend unworthy aid to their lust,
in order that by these means they might indulge their own pleasures the more;
1730.
and then, that they might not seem to be inclined of their own accord to unworthy services,
taught men that demons could, by certain arts— that is, by magical invocations—
be made to obey men; and so, as from a furnace and workshop of wickedness,
they filled the whole world with the smoke of impiety, the light of piety being withdrawn.
Ham the First Magician.
1731.
For these and some other causes, a flood was brought upon the world,
as we have said already, and shall say again; and all who were upon the earth were destroyed,
except the family of Noah, who survived, with his three sons and their wives.
1732.
One of these, by name Ham, unhappily discovered the magical act,
and handed down the instruction of it to one of his sons, who was called Mesraim,
from whom the race of the Egyptians and Babylonians and Persians are descended.
1733.
Him the nations who then existed called Zoroaster, admiring him as the first author of the magic art;
under whose name also many books on this subject exist.
1734.
He therefore, being much and frequently intent upon the stars, and wishing to be esteemed a god among them, began to draw forth, as it were, certain sparks from the stars, and to show them to men,
in order that the rude and ignorant might be astonished, as with a miracle;
1735.
and desiring to increase this estimation of him, he attempted these things again and again, until he was set on fire, and consumed by the very demon, whom he accosted with too great importunity.
Tower of Babel.
1736.
But the foolish men who were then, whereas they ought to have abandoned the opinion which they had conceived of him, inasmuch as they had seen it confuted by his mortal punishment, extolled him the more.
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1737.
For raising a sepulchre to his honour, they went so far as to adore him as a friend of God,
and one who had been removed to heaven in a chariot of lightning,
and to worship him as if he were a living star.
1738.
Hence also his name was called Zoroaster after his death— that is, living star—
by those who, after one generation, had been taught to speak the Greek language.
1739.
In fine, by this example, even now many worship those who have been struck with lightning, honouring them with sepulchres, and worshipping them as friends of God.
1740.
But this man was born in the fourteenth generation, and died in the fifteenth,
in which the tower was built, and the languages of men were divided into many.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER SIXTY
Divisions 1741-1760
Book 4
RECOGNITIONS 4
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