Quod argumentum a signo suo non est neces
The Uncertainty of Signs
The author argues that signs in the natural world do not possess a necessary, unchangeable power to dictate the future.
There are signs, such as those involving Hezekiah, Ahaz, and Nineveh, and these signs can change. But perhaps the Truth, speaking to familiar matters, says, "It isn't for you to reserve such a privilege for others, like mathematicians." So be it, if a faithful mind finds rest. But how great is this certainty of signs, as has been said? Indeed, when the signs of the passages have abandoned their own, something new is believed to be imminent. I don't argue to such an extent that I believe great matters can ever be anticipated by any signs, since I have learned that the power of significance comes from the Lord in the sun, moon, and the very elements and their adornment. Moreover, it seems to me that an art by which anyone can respond truthfully to all questions about the future either doesn't exist at all or hasn't yet been made known to people, as I am persuaded by the authority and reasoning of many. But if I cannot persuade you, opposing me with those things you bring up about providence and fate, and with examples that contradict me from various histories, I am nevertheless convinced that I should not yield to this vanity.
Divine Mercy and the Changeable Decree
Through the examples of Hezekiah, Ahab, and the Ninevites, the author demonstrates that God's judgments are responsive to repentance.
I don't believe there is such a necessary connection between signs and the things they signify that one must inevitably follow from the other. Listen, and I'll tell you why I believe this, unless you're too caught up in the trivialities of court life. King Hezekiah was sick to the point of death. Don't you believe that the King of Judah found a doctor who could gauge the severity of his illness by examining his urine, his pulse, and a multitude of other diagnostic signs? Furthermore, he had perhaps received a prognosis of death in his own body, having been brought to such a state that he no longer hoped to live. Finally, the Holy Spirit announced that death was standing at the door. What surer sign could you ask for? What is certain—to say nothing of other things—if you doubt the testimony of the Holy Spirit? Will you deny that Isaiah spoke in the Spirit, "You will die and not live"? Yet he lived and did not die, for fifteen years were added to him through the mercy of Him who holds the outcomes of the future in His own power. And perhaps the death that nature and the failure of vital organs were threatening was absorbed by the further mercy of a threatening God, because he died to his guilt through repentance. King Ahab, too—that most wicked man, joined to Jezebel not so much by marriage as by cruelty—was expecting the death that the Lord had foretold, once he had taken possession of the vineyard of holy Naboth through bloodshed. If you don't believe me that God Himself foretold it, listen to Elijah. For he says: "Thus says the Lord: You have killed and taken possession." And likewise: "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, there they will lick your blood, and dogs will eat Jezebel by the walls of Jezreel." When Ahab heard this, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his skin, fasted, and slept in sackcloth. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying: "Because Ahab has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days." Look: the punishment that was due to Ahab is deferred to his descendants because he did penance, while Jezebel, persisting in her wickedness, is condemned by present judgment. It was one and the same sentence that exposed the blood of both Ahab and Jezebel to the dogs. And yet, in part it is changed, and in part it remains immovable, as the Author of time arranges all things in this way. In the same way, the Ninevites, freed from the impending destruction, turned aside the Lord's sentence, doing penance at the preaching of Jonah following the edict of the king and his princes.
The Vanity of Astrological Fatalism
The author mocks those who rely on planetary movements and atoms, asserting that such fatalism is a self-deception.
Does the judgment of Jupiter and Mars seem truer and more reliable to you than the judgment of the Creator? You certainly won't agree with Plautus's advice if you attribute this power to the planets. For when a sycophant asks Mandrogerus whether those planets that rotate the whole world with their numbers should be appeased, Mandrogerus replies that they are neither easy to see nor approachable to speak to, adding that while they roll atoms in their mouths and count the stars, they are unable to change their own fate. Thus, he introduces a necessity of events based on the arrangement of the stars, so that he might elegantly mock with sharp wit those who exercise their sight in the contemplation of those who flee from sight, and who pester those who disdain to speak. And since they roll atoms in their mouths, it is to be feared that if an atom should happen to fall into the throat of a Genelliacus while he is trying to grasp the judgment of the heavens, he might stumble. Let their authority carry weight, then, as long as the Creator’s remains stable and unshaken. Certainly, whatever your Mars or Jupiter might suggest, God is truthful; and by believing them more than God, you are a most ruinous liar. The stars are indeed lies in His sight, and He finds corruption even in His angels. To tell you the truth, however, the stars don't lie to you—you lie to yourself. If you are deceived, blame yourself. After all, who is forcing you to think what is false? Who persuaded you that the things you guess will happen based on signs are unchangeable? Or are you misled by the whistling potter who says, 'Either this world wanders through the ages without any law, and the stars revolve in uncertain motion; or if the fates are moving, a ripe destruction is being prepared for the city and the human race'?
The Sovereignty of the Creator
True peace is found only in the Lord, who alone has the power to alter judgment based on human humility or pride.
He adds this more clearly: "And what good is it to ask the gods for an end?" Peace comes with the Lord; go ahead, Rome, and drag out your endless series of evils and disasters for many ages, provided you are now finally free from civil war. But without a doubt, your many gods could not avert the coming war, because they are many—or rather, they are nothing at all. Yet the one who is both God and Lord could have done this. For He knows how to change His judgment if you, by His grace, put an end to your wickedness. This is why Nebuchadnezzar, following Daniel’s advice to redeem his sins with alms and his iniquities with mercy toward the poor, escaped the Lord’s impending judgment for a time—until, boasting in the palace of Babylon, he said: "Is this not the great Babylon that I built as a royal residence, by the strength of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" Thus, by his voice of pride, he called back upon himself the judgment of God that was already passing him by.
Read the original Latin
sarium; et de Ezechia, Acah, et Ninivitis; et quod ea quae signijicantur, mutari possunt. Sed forte familiaribus Veritas loquens, Non est uestrum, ait, ut tantam praerogatiuam alienis, puta mathematicis, reseruaret. Esto, si tamen fidelis animus adquiescit. Sed quanta, ut praedictum est, est haec certitudo signorum? Nempe cum signa meatus deseruere suos, nouum aliquid creditur imminere. Non enim eousque contendo, ut res magnas nullis umquam credam indiciis praeueniri, cum in sole et luna et ipsis elementis et ornatu eorum uim significatiuam a Domino esse didicerim. Ceterum artem esse, quo quis de futuris ad omnia interrogata uerum respondeat, aut omnino non esse aut nondum innotuisse hominibus, michi multorum auctoritate et ratione persuasum est. Quod si tibi persuadere non possum, obstantibus his quae michi de prouidentia et fato indesinenter opponis, michique repugnantibus exemplis quae de uariis affers historiis, persuasi tamen michi huic non adquiescere uanitati.
Non equidem signorum signatorumque eam coherentiam arbitror, ut alterum ex altero necessario consequatur. Cur ita crediderim, nisi te curialium nugae detinent, audi. Rex Ezechias egrotauit ad mortem. An non credis regem luda medicum inuenisse, qui urinae et pulsus et multiplicium praenosticorum indicio morbi deprehenderet quantitatem? Deinde responsum mortis forte acceperat in corpore suo, qui eo usque perductus est ut se uicturum ulterius non speraret. Postremo Spiritus sanctus mortem nuntiabat astare pro foribus. Quod signum certius quaeris? Quid certum est, ut de aliis taceam, si de testimonio dubitas Spiritus sancti?
An negabis Ysaiam dixisse in spiritu, Morieris et non uiues Vixit tamen et non mortuus est, adiectis ei annis quindecim, per misericordiam eius, qui futurorum euentus in sua posuit potestate. Et forte mortem, quam natura uitaliumque defectus intentabant, quia ille per penitentiam mortuus est in culpa, ulterior comminantis Dei absorbuit misericordia. Acab quoque rex impiissimus, cum lezabel non tam coniugio quam crudelitate coniuncta, cum uineam sancti Nabutae cruore possedisset, mortem imminentem praenuntiante Domino expectabat. Si michi non credis, quod eam Deus ipse praenuntiauerit, audi Helyam. Ait • enim: Haec dicit Dominus; Occidisti et possedisti. Itemque: In quo loco linxerunt canes sanguinem Naboth, ibi lingent sanguinem tuum, et lezabel canes comedent ante a muros lezrael. Quod cum audisset Acab, scidit uestimenta sua et posuit saccum super carnem suam, ieiunauitque et dormiuit in cilicio. Factusque est eermo Domini ad Helyam dicens: Quia reueritus est Acab faciem meam, non inducam malum in diebus -eius.
Ecce pena quae debebatur Acab, quia penitentiam egit, differtur in posteros, et lezabel in scelere perseuerans praesenti iudicio condempnatur. Vna eademque fuit sententia quae sanguinem Acab et lezabel canibus exponebat. Et tamen pro parte mutatur et pro parte manet immobilis, auctore temporum sic omnia dispensante. Sic et Niniuitae a praesenti excidio liberati Domini flexere sententiam, ex edicto regis et principum agentes penitentiam ad praeb dicationem lonae. Numquid tibi uidetur uerior et fidelior sententia louis et Martis quam sententia creatoris? Non utique Plauti consilio adquiesces, si istud uirium planetis adscripseris. Cum enim sicofanta Mandrogerum percunctetur, an illi sint planetae placandi, qui numeris totum rotant, eos Mandrogerus nec uisu faciles nec dictu affabiles esse respondet, adiciens quod et athomos in ore uoluunt, stellas numerant, sola mutare non possunt sua. Sic itaque a dispositione siderum euentuum necessitatem ingerit, ut illos sale satis urbano eleganter irrideat, qui uisum exercent in contemplatione eorum qui uisum fugiunt, et interpellant eos qui loqui dedignantur; et cum athomos in ore uoluant, uerendum est ne, si athomos genelliaco forte intercidat, in excipienda sententia celestium labatur.
Sit ergo eorum insignis auctoritas, dum stabilis et inconuulsa maneat creatoris. Certe quicquid tibi Mars tuus aut lupiter suggerant, Deus uerax est, et tu, dum illis plus quam Deo credis, pemiciosissime mendax. Astra quidem mendacia sunt in conspectu eius, sed et in angelis suis reperit prauitatem. Vt tamen uerum fatear, tibi astra non mentiuntur, sed tu ipse. Quod deciperis, tibi imputa. Quis enim te cogit falsum putare? Quis ea, quae praeeuntibus signis uentura coniectas, immutabilia esse persuasit? An falleris eo quod Figulus sibilans: Aut hic mundus, ait, nulla sine lege per euum errat, et incerto uoluuntur sidera motu; aut si fata mouent urbi generique paratur humano matura lues?
Idemque manifestius subicit: Et superos quid prodest poscere finem? Cum domino pax ista uenit; duc Roma malorum continuam seriem, clademque in tempora multa protrahe, ciuili tantum iam libera bello. Sed proculdubio multi dii tui futurum bellum amouere non poterant, quia multi, immo potius nulli sunt, Hoc tamen unus et Deus et Dominus potuisset. Nouit enim ille mutare sententiam, si tu beneficio eius malitiam finias. Vnde et Nabugodonosor consilio Danielis peccata a elemosinis redimens et iniquitates in misericordiis pauperum sententiam Domini imminentem ad tempus efiugit, donec in aula Babilonis glorians diceret: Nonne haec est Babilon magna, quam ego condidi in domo regis, in robore fortitudinis meae et in gloria nominis mei Sic ergo elationis uoce in seipsum iam fugientem Dei sententiam reuocauit.
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