On the Trinity 1

The rule of truth requires that first of all we believe in God the Father and Lord Almighty, that is, the most perfect Maker of all things, who hung the heavens on high, made the earth firm as a mass set low, poured out the seas in flowing water, and arranged all these things, both adorned and filled with their own fitting furnishings. For in the firmament of heaven he raised the light-bearing risings of the sun; he filled the gleaming globe of the moon with monthly increases of its orb to comfort the night; he kindled the rays of the stars with the varied flashes of their twinkling light; and he willed that all these should go round the whole circuit of the world in their lawful courses, to produce for the human race days, months, years, signs, seasons, and benefits. On the earth, too, he raised the highest mountains to a peak, sank the valleys into the depths, spread out the plains evenly, and usefully appointed herds of animals for the various services of men. He also made firm the oaks of the forests, to be of use to human needs; he brought forth crops for food; he unsealed the mouths of springs and poured them into flowing rivers. After this, so that he should not fail to provide even for the delight of the eyes, he clothed all things with the varied colors of flowers for the pleasure of those who behold them. In the sea itself too, though it was wonderful both in size and in usefulness, he fashioned many kinds of creatures, now of moderate, now of vast body, bearing witness by the variety of what he established to the skill of the Artisan. Not content with these, lest the roaring and running of the waters should seize an element not its own, to the loss of its human possessor, he enclosed its boundaries with shores: so that when the roaring flood and the wave foaming from the deep gulf came up to them, it would turn back upon itself and not go beyond the limits allowed it, keeping the laws prescribed: so that man might keep the divine laws all the more, since even the elements had kept them.

After this he also set man over the world, and indeed man made to the image of God, into whom he put mind and reason and prudence, so that he might be able to imitate God. Though the first beginnings of his body were earthly, yet his substance was breathed in from a heavenly and divine breath. And when he had given all things into his service, he willed that he alone should be free. And lest freedom, once unbound, should in turn fall into danger, he laid down a command, by which man was taught, not that there was evil in the fruit of the tree, but he was forewarned that evil would come if by chance man's will should lead him to despise the law he had been given. For he had to be free, lest the image of God should unfittingly be a slave; and a law had to be added, lest liberty, unbridled, should break out even to contempt of the Giver: so that he might receive, as a consequence, both fitting rewards and deserved punishments, having as his own whatever he had chosen to pursue, by the movement of his mind, in one direction or the other. From this, mortality, through envy indeed, comes back upon man himself: though he could have escaped it by obedience, he ran into it while, following perverse counsel, he hastened to become God. Yet God nonetheless tempered his punishment mercifully, in that not so much he himself as his labors are cursed upon the earth. For the fact that he is sought for does not come from ignorance, but shows the hope of man's future finding and salvation in Christ; and the fact that he is kept from touching the tree of life does not come down from the malicious spite of envy, but is done lest, living forever, unless Christ had first forgiven his sins, he should carry about with him, to his own punishment, a sin forever undying.

And yet in the higher parts too, that is, even above the firmament itself, which are not visible to our eyes today, he had earlier established angels, ordered spiritual Powers, set Thrones and Authorities over them, and founded many other immense spaces of the heavens and infinite works of mysteries, so that this world, immense though it is, appears to be rather almost the last of God's works among bodily things than the only one. For the regions that lie beneath the earth are not themselves empty of ordered and arranged powers. For there is a place to which the souls of the godly and the ungodly are led, already feeling a foretaste of the judgment to come: so that we might see the overflowing greatness of his works in every part, not shut up within the bosom of this world, spacious as it is, as we have said, but might also be able to contemplate the depths and heights even beneath the world itself; and so, having considered the greatness of his works, we might worthily marvel at the Artisan of so vast a structure.