Reasons Of Heaven And The World

Ac primum oportuerat homines religiosam divinarum rerum scientiam praeferentes, ubi evangelicae atque apostolicae praedicationis veritas praeferebat, callidae philosophiae tortuosas quaestiones abjicere, et sectari potius fidem quae in Deo est: quia sensum infirmum facile fidei suae praesidio sophisma syllogisticae interrogationis exueret, cum captiosa propositio responsionem simplicem, sibique secundum interrogationem rerum obsecundantem, ad ultimum jam sensus sui interrogatione spoliaret; ut quod professione amisisset, id jam conscientia non teneret. Quid enim tam necessario interrogationi obsecundabit, quam ut cum a nobis quaeratur, Esne aliquid antequam nascitur? In professione nostra sit, non fuisse ante quod nascitur? Neque enim aut in natura aut in necessitate est, ut quod est nascatur: cum nasci quid ob id tantum ut sit, non quia erat, necesse sit. Quod cum concessum fuerit a nobis, quia recte conceditur; exuti fidei conscientia capti jam impiis atque alienis studiis acquiescimus. Quod providens ante beatus Apostolus Paulus, sicuti frequenter ostendimus, ut caveremus admonuit, dicens: 'Videte ne quis vos spoliet per philosophiam et inanem deceptionem, secundnum traditionem hominum, secundum elementa mundi, et non secundum Christum, in quo inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter.' Cavendum igitur adversum philosophiam est, et humanarum traditionem non tam evitanda sunt studia, quam refutanda. Neque enim his ita concedendum est, quasi vincant potius quam fallant: quia nos Christum Dei virtutem et Dei sapientiam praedicantes, aequum est humanas doctrinas non tam diffugerem, quam refellere; et simpliciores, ne ab his spolientur, et obstruere et instruere. Nam cum possit omnia, in ea ipsa omnia sapienter Deus possit, nec virtuti ejus ratio, nec rationi virtus absistat; oportet eos, qui Christum praedicant mundo, irreligiosis mundi imperfectisque doctrinis per scientiam sapientis omnipotentiae contraire, secundum illud beati Apostoli dictum: Nostra enim arma non sunt carnalia, sed potentia Deo, ad destructionem munitionum, rationes destruentia; et omnem altitudinem elevatam adversus cognitionem Dei. Fidem non nudam Apostolus atque inopem rationis reliquit: quae quamvis potissima ad salutem sit, tamen nisi per doctrinam instruatur, habebit quidem inter adversa tutum refugiendi recessum, non etiam retinebit constantem obnitendi securitatem; eritque ut infirmibus sunt post fugam casta, non etiam ut castra habentibus adest interrita fortitudo. Contundendae sunt ergo insolentes adversum Deum disputationes, et destruenda rationum fallacium munimenta, et elevata ad impietatem ingenia conterenda nec carnalibus armis, sed spiritalibus; nec terrena doctrina, sed coelesti sapientia: ut quanta rerum divinarum humanarumque discretio est, tanta ultra terrena studia ratio coelestis excedat. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, De Trinitate, Liber XII Source: Migne PL 10.444b-445c

And first, men choosing a religious knowledge of Divine things, preferring the truth of the preaching of the Evangelists and Apostles, should have thrown aside the intricate questions of crafty philosophy and rather followed the faith which is in God, because the sophistry of a syllogistical question easily tears down from a weak mind the guard of faith, when with captious assertion the simple defender, inquiring into obscure things, is finally stripped by his own questioning of his meaning, so that he is obliged to profess what his mind no long holds. For what necessarily suits so well, when it is asked of us, 'Does anything exist before it is comes to be,' than the response by us that a thing was not before it came to be? For it is contrary both to nature and the necessities of reason that what is should then come to be, when a thing must come to be that it then exist, and not come to be because it was. But when we have admitted this, because it is rightly done, seized in the conscience of our faith we acquiesce in impious and strange pursuits. But the blessed Apostle Paul, foreseeing this, as we have often shown, warned us to be on our guard, saying: 'Take care lest any man despoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ, in whom dwells bodily all the fullness of the Godhead.' 1 Therefore we must be on our guard against philosophy and the traditions of men, not that we avoid such learning, but that we refute it. For it must not be conceded to these that we are conquered rather than deceived, for we who preach the power of Christ and the wisdom of God should not flee from the teachings of men, but rather refute them. And the more simple among us, lest they be despoiled by adversaries, we must hold back and teach. For when God is able to do all things, in His wisdom able to do all things wisely, since neither does His reason lack power nor his power reason, it befits those who preach Christ to the world that they face the irreligious and false teachings of the world with the knowledge of omnipotent wisdom, according to the saying of the blessed Apostle: 'For our weapons are not carnal but the power of God, for the destruction of strongholds, the pulling down of arguments and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God.' 2 The Apostle did not leave us a faith naked and poor of reason, yet although it may be most powerful for the attainment of salvation, even so, unless it is instilled by teaching, though it will have indeed a secure retreat to withdraw to among adversaries, it will not be a constantly secure resistance, it will be like a camp for the weak after flight, not like the undaunted courage of those who have a camp to hold. Thus we must crush the insolent arguments opposed to God, and cast down the strongholds of fallacious reasoning, and grind down the minds lifted up to impiety, with arms not carnal but spiritual, not with earthly teaching but with heavenly wisdom, for as much as Divine things differ from human, so much the reason of heaven exceeds earthly learning. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, Book 12 1 Colos 2.8-9 2 2 Cor 10.4-5