If there had never
been any remedy for any ill, and all ills had been incurable, it is
impossible that men should have imagined that they could give remedies,
and still more impossible that so many others should have believed those
who boasted of having remedies; in the same way as did a man boast of
preventing death, no one would believe him, because there is no example
of this. But as there were a number of remedies found to be true by the
very knowledge of the greatest men, the belief of men is thereby
induced; and, this being known to be possible, it has been therefore
concluded that it was. For people commonly reason thus: "A thing is
possible, therefore it is"; because the thing cannot be denied
generally, since there are particular effects which are true, the
people, who cannot distinguish which among these particular effects are
true, believe them all. In the same way, the reason why so many false
effects are credited to the moon, is that there are some true, as the
tide.

It is the same with prophecies, miracles, divination by dreams,
sorceries, etc. For if there had been nothing true in all this, men
would have believed nothing of them; and thus, instead of concluding
that there are no true miracles because there are so many false, we
must, on the contrary, say that there certainly are true miracles, since
there are false, and that there are false miracles only because some are
true. We must reason in the same way about religion; for it would not be
possible that men should have imagined so many false religions, if there
had not been a true one. The objection to this is that savages have a
religion; but the answer is that they have heard the true spoken of, as
appears by the deluge, circumcision, the cross of Saint Andrew, etc.

817

Having considered how it comes that there are so many false miracles,
false revelations, sorceries, etc., it has seemed to me that the true
cause is that there are some true; for it would not be possible that
there should be so many false miracles, if there were none true, nor so
many false revelations, if there were none true, nor so many false
religions, if there were not one true. For if there had never been all
this, it is almost impossible that men should have imagined it, and
still more impossible that so many others should have believed it. But
as there have been very great things true, and as they have been
believed by great men, this impression has been the cause tha