the parts, but one
creative power in the whole (for the nature of the head is not dependent on one
power of God, that of the eyes on another, and that of ears and feet on other
distinct powers), so also there is one general identical divine power governing
the whole Universe, creative of the (151) heaven and the stars, the living
things in earth and air and sea, the elements generally and individually, and
all kinds of natural things in their genera and species. So there is not one
force productive of fire, another of water, another again of earth and of air.
But one and the same wisdom is craftsman of the whole, I mean this very
creative Word of God of our theology, Who is the Maker of the Universe. The
friendship of the elements for one another bears witness to this, proving the
constitution of the Universe to be kindred and related and as it were the work
of one Architect by the (b) mixing of blended qualities. Earth, for instance,
the heavy element, floats on water, and is not drawn down below by its natural
solidity, but always remaining on the surface and not immersed, bears witness
to the Word of God and the Will and Power of God. The union of wet with dry,
again, without producing corruption, and without completely swamping
everything, being hindered by the awful will of God, shews the power of the
Word of God, Who is One and the same.
And what of fire?
Although its nature is burning and (c) destructive, it lurks in logs, and is
mingled in all living bodies; it is combined elementarily with earth and air
and water, and thus supplying by proportion and measure to all things what they
need in so far as it can aid each sister element, and forgetting its own proper
power, does it not seem another instance of subservience to the Word of God and
His Power?
When you behold the
regular succession of day and night, the waxing and waning of hours and
seasons, the circles of the years and the cycles of time, the wheelings of the
(d) stars, the courses of the sun and the changes of the moon, the sympathy and
antipathy of all things, and the one Cosmos formed of all, would you think it
right to say that Unreason, and Chance, and random forces were the cause of
all, or rather the Word which is truly God's Word and God's Wisdom and God's
Power, and would you not hymn Its praise as one and not many? Then, again, in a
man one
soul and one power of
reason may be creative of many things, since one and the same faculty by
concentration can be applied to agriculture, to ship-building, to steering and
to house-building. And the one mind and reasoning faculty in a man can acquaint
him with many different spheres of knowledge, for the same man will know
geometry and astronomy, and will lecture on grammar and medicine, and will
excel in intellectual pursuits and handicraft as well. And yet no one has ever
yet supposed that there are more souls than one in one body, or has thought it
strange that man should have many faculties, through his interest in many
studies.
And again, if one should
find a shapeless piece of clay, and then softening it in his hands give it the
shape of an animal, moulding with plastic art the head into one form, the hands
and feet differently, the eyes again otherwise, and the cheeks as well, ears
and mouth, nose, chest and shoulders, would you say, when many forms and limbs
and parts have been framed in the one body, that one must reckon there to have
been the same number of makers, or rather praise the craftsman of the whole
complete figure, who worked out the whole thing with one reasoning faculty and
one power? Why, then, in the case of the Universe, which consists of a unity in
many parts, must we suppose many creative powers, and name many gods, and not
confess that that which is truly "the power of God and the wisdom of
God" in one power and goodness supports and gives life to all things at
the same time, and gives to all from itself their various supplies? So also the
light of the sun is one, and the same rays at one and the same time irradiate
the air, enlighten the eyes, warm the touch, enrich the earth, cause plants to
grow, are the foundation of time, the guide of the stars, the patrol of the heavens,
the joy of the Cosmos, shew the clear power of God in the whole Universe, and
fulfil all those effects with one pulse of their being.
Fire, again, by its
nature purifies gold, and melts lead: wax it dissolves, clay it hardens, wood
it dries, by one burning force accomplishing so many changes. And thus, too,
the heavenly Word of God, the Creator of sun and heaven and of the whole
Cosmos, present in all things with effective power, and reaching through all
things, showers light on sun and moon and stars from Its own eternal force,
and having first formed
the heaven to be the meetest likeness of Its own greatness rules over it for
ever, and fills the powers of angels and spirits beyond the heaven and the
Cosmos, and the beings who have mind and reason, at once (153) with life, and
light, and wisdom, and all virtue, and every good thing from Its own treasures,
with one and the same creative art. And It never ceases to bestow their special
being to the elements, their mixings, combinations, forms, shapes and fashions,
and their many qualities, in the animal and vegetable world, and in souls, and
in bodies rational and irrational, varying Its gifts now in one way now in
another, and supplying all things to all together at the same time, and dowering
all mankind with self-conscious mind able to (b) contemplate Its wisdom,
standing close by all and shewing beyond all doubt that the one Cosmos is the
work of the one Cosmos-making Word.
Such, then, was the Son,
sole-begotten of His will, Master of fair crafts and Creator of all tilings,
Whom the Highest God, God and Father of the Creator Himself first before all
begat, setting in Him and through Him the creative proportions of things about
to be, and casting in Him the seeds of (c) the constitution and the government
of the Universe. Do you not see with your eyes the whole Cosmos, which one
heaven encircles, and the myriad dances and circlings of the stars around it?
One sun again, and not many suns, veils the flashings of all things with excess
of light. So, then, since the Father is one, the Son must be one also. And if
one should find fault because there are not many, let such an one see that he
find not fault because He made not more suns than one, or moons, or universes,
or anything else, like a maniac attempting to turn what is right and good in
nature out of its course.