Sun and Moon Ministers Both of Good and Evil.
2695.
Yet we shall discourse at greater length on these subjects at another time.
2696.
Now, meantime, we remark that though he is that good servant for regulating the changes of the seasons, yet, when chastisement is inflicted upon men according to the will of God,
he glows more fiercely, and burns up the world with more vehement fires.
2697.
In like manner also the course of the moon, and that changing which seems to the unskilful to be disorderly, is adapted to the growth of crops, and cattle, and all living creatures;
2698.
for by her waxings and wanings, by a certain wonderful contrivance of providence,
everything that is born is nourished and grows; concerning which we could speak more at length and unfold the matter in detail, yet that the method of the question proposed recalls us.
2699.
Yet, by the very same appliances by which they are produced, all things are nourished and increased;
2700.
yet when, from any just cause, the regulation of the appointed order is changed, corruption and distemper arise, so that chastisement may come upon men by the will of God, as we have said above.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER NINETY TWO
Divisions 2701-2735
Book 8
RECOGNITIONS 8
Chastisements on the Righteous and the Wicked.
2701.
Yet perhaps you will say,
What of the fact that, in that common chastisement, similar things befall the pious and the impious?
2702.
It is true, and we confess it;
2703.
yet the chastisement turns to the advantage of the pious, that, being afflicted in the present life,
they may come more purified to the future, in which perpetual rest is prepared for them,
2704.
and that at the same time even the impious may somewhat profit from their chastisement,
or else that the just sentence of the future judgment may be passed upon them;
since in the same chastisements the righteous give thanks to God, while the unrighteous blaspheme.
2705.
Therefore, since the opinion of things is divided into two parts,
that some things are done by order and others against order,
it ought, from those things which are done according to order, to be believed that there is a providence;
2706.
yet with respect to those things which are done against order,
we should inquire their causes from those who have learned them by prophetic teaching:
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2707.
for those who have become acquainted with prophetic discourse know when, and for what reason,
blight, hail, and pestilence, and such like, have occurred in every generation,
and for what sins these have been sent as a punishment;
2708.
whence causes of sadness, lamentations, and griefs have befallen the human race; whence also trembling sickness has ensued, and that this has been from the beginning the punishment of parricide.
Chastisements for Sins.
2709.
For in the beginning of the world there were none of these evils,
yet they took their rise from the impiety of men;
and thence, with the constant increase of iniquities, the number of evils has also increased.
2710.
Yet for this reason divine providence has decreed a judgment with respect to all men,
because the present life was not such that every one could be dealt with according to his deservings.
2711.
Those things, therefore, which were well and orderly appointed from the beginning,
when no causes of evil existed, are not to be judged of from the evils which have befallen the world by reason of the sins of men.
2712.
In short, as an indication of the things which were from the beginning,
some nations are found which are strangers to these evils.
2713.
For the Seres, because they live chastely, are kept free from them all;
for with them it is unlawful to come at a woman after she has conceived,
or while she is being purified.
2714.
No one there eats unclean flesh, no one knows anything of sacrifices;
all are judges to themselves according to justice.
2715.
For this reason they are not chastened with those plagues which we have spoken of;
they live to extreme old age, and die without sickness.
2716.
Yet we, miserable as we are, dwelling as it were with deadly serpents Ezekiel 2:6
— I mean with wicked men— necessarily suffer with them the plagues of afflictions in this world,
yet we cherish hope from the comfort of good things to come.
God's Precepts Despised.
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2717.
If, said the old man, even the righteous are tormented on account of the iniquities of others,
God ought, as foreseeing this, to have commanded men not to do those things from which it should be necessary that the righteous be afflicted with the unrighteous;
or if they did them, He ought to have applied some correction or purification to the world.
2718.
God, said Aquila, did so command, and gave precepts by the prophets how men ought to live;
yet even these precepts they despised:
yea, if any desired to observe them, them they afflicted with various injuries,
until they drove them from their purposed observance, and turned them to the rabble of infidelity,
and made them like themselves.
The Flood.
2719.
Wherefore, in short, at the first, when all the earth had been stained with sins,
God brought a flood upon the world, which you say happened under Deucalion;
and at that time He saved a certain righteous man, with his sons, in an ark,
and with him the race of all plants and animals.
2720.
And yet even those who sprang from them, after a time, again did deeds like to those of their predecessors; for those things that had befallen them were forgotten, so that their descendants did not even believe that the flood had taken place.
2721.
Wherefore God also decreed that there should not be another flood in the present world, else there should have been one in every generation, according to the account of their sins by reason of their unbelief;
2722.
yet He rather granted that certain angels who delight in evil should bear sway over the several nations
— and to them was given power over individual men, yet only on this condition, if any one first had made himself subject to them by sinning—
2723.
until He should come who delights in good, and by Him the number of the righteous should be completed, and by the increase of the number of pious men all over the world impiety should be in some measure repressed, and it should be known to all that all that is good is done by God.
Evils Brought in by Sin.
2724.
Yet by the freedom of the will, every man, while he is unbelieving in regard to things to come, by evil deeds runs into evils.
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2725.
And these are the things in the world which seem to be done contrary to order, which owe their existence to unbelief.
2726.
Therefore the dispensation of divine providence is withal to be admired, which granted to those men in the beginning, walking in the good way of life, to enjoy incorruptible good things; but when they sinned, they gave birth to evil by sin.
2727.
And to every good thing evil is joined as by a certain covenant of alliance on the part of sin,
since indeed the earth has been polluted with human blood, and altars have been lighted to demons,
and they have polluted the very air by the filthy smoke of sacrifices;
2728.
and so at length the elements, being first corrupted, have handed over to men the fault of their corruption, as roots communicate their qualities to the branches and the fruit.
No Rose Without Its Thorn.
2729.
Observe therefore in this, as I have said, how justly divine providence comes to the help of things vitiated; that, inasmuch as evils which had derived their origin from sin were associated with the good things of God, He should assign two chiefs to these two departments.
2730.
And accordingly, to Him who rejoices in good He has appointed the ordering of good things,
that He might bring those who believe in Him to the faith of His providence;
2731.
yet to him who rejoices in evil, He has given over those things which are done without order and uselessly, from which of course the faith of His providence comes into doubt;
and thus a just division has been made by a just God.
2732.
Hence therefore it is, that whereas the orderly course of the stars produces faith that the world was made by the hand of a designer, on the other hand, the disturbance of the air, the pestilent breeze, the uncontrolled fire of the lightning, cast doubt upon the work of providence.
2733.
For, as we have said, every good thing has its corresponding contrary evil thing joined with it;
2734.
as hail is opposite to the fertilizing showers, the corruption of mildew is associated with the gentle dew, the whirlwinds of storms are joined with the soft winds, unfruitful trees with fruitful, noxious herbs with useful, wild and destructive animals with gentle ones.
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2735.
Yet all these things are arranged by God, because that the choice of men's will has departed from the purpose of good, and fallen away to evil.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER NINETY THREE
Divisions 2736-2770
Book 8
RECOGNITIONS 8
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