Against Celsus 4.99

Since, then, to all these things Celsus adds: "So all things have not been made for man, any more than for the lion, or the eagle, or the dolphin, but so that this world, as God's work, might come to be complete and perfect in all its parts. For this reason all things have been measured out, not with a view to one another, except incidentally, but with a view to the whole. And God cares for the whole, and providence never abandons it, nor does it become worse, nor does God turn it back to himself after a time, nor is he angry on account of human beings, any more than on account of apes or mice; nor does he threaten these, each of which has received its own lot in its part," come, let us reply to this, if only briefly. I think I have shown from what was said before how all things have been made for man and for every rational being; for all things have been created principally for the sake of the rational animal. Let Celsus, then, say that they were made no more for man than for the lion or the others he names; but we will say: the Creator did not make these things for the lion, nor for the eagle, nor for the dolphin, but all things for the sake of the rational animal, and "so that this world, as God's work, might come to be complete and perfect in all its parts." For we must agree with this as well said. But God cares, not, as Celsus thinks, only for the whole, but beyond the whole, especially for every rational being. And providence will never abandon the whole; for even if some part of the whole becomes worse because the rational being sins, he arranges to cleanse it and after a time to turn the whole back to himself. And he is not angry on account of apes or mice; but on human beings, since they have transgressed their natural starting points, he brings judgment and punishment, and he threatens them through the prophets and through the Saviour who came to the whole human race, so that through the threat those who hear may turn back, while those who neglect the words calling them to turn may pay the penalty they deserve, which it befits God to impose, according to his own will and for the benefit of the whole, on those who need such painful treatment and correction. But since the fourth book has reached a sufficient length, we will end our discussion here. May God grant, through his Son, who is God the Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, and Righteousness, and everything else that the holy Scriptures say of him in their teaching about God, that we may begin the fifth book too for the benefit of those who will read it, and finish it well also, with the coming of his Word into our soul.