Arnobius

“ Nay, this we rather ask, why, if it were fitting that Hercules should be born, Æsculapius, Mercury, Liber, and some others, that they might be both added to the assemblies of the gods, and might do men some service,—why they were produced so late by Jupiter, that only later ages should know them, while the past ages [2] of those who went before knew them not? You will say that there was some reason. There was then some reason here also that the Saviour of our race came not lately, but to-day. What, then, you ask, is the reason? We do not deny that we do not know. ”

“ For it is not within the power of any one to see the mind of God, or the way in which He has arranged His plans. [3] Man, a blind creature, and not knowing himself even, can [4] in no way learn what should happen, when, or what its nature is: the Father Himself, the Governor and Lord of all, alone knows. ”