|
But it is much more surprising that some even of those who, with
ourselves, believe that there is one only source of all things, and
that no nature which is not divine can exist unless originated by that
Creator, have yet refused to accept with a good and simple faith this
so good and simple a reason of the world's creation, that a good God
made it good; and that the things created, being different from God,
were inferior to Him, and yet were good, being created by none other
than He. But they say that souls, though not, indeed, parts of
God, but created by Him, sinned by abandoning God; that, in
proportion to their various sins, they merited different degrees of
debasement from heaven to earth, and diverse bodies as prison-houses;
and that this is the world, and this the cause of its creation, not
the production of good things, but the restraining of evil. Origen is
justly blamed for holding this opinion. For in the books which he
entitles peri arkpn, that is, Of Origins, this is his sentiment,
this his utterance. And I can not sufficiently express my
astonishment, that a man so erudite and well versed in ecclesiastical
literature, should not have observed, in the first place, how opposed
this is to the meaning of this authoritative Scripture, which, in
recounting all the works of God, regularly adds, "And God saw that
it was good;" and, when all were completed, inserts the words,
"And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was
very good." Was it not obviously meant to be understood that there
was no other cause of the world's creation than that good creatures
should be made by a good God? In this creation, had no one sinned,
the world would have been filled and beautified with natures good
without exception; and though there is sin, all things are not
therefore full of sin, for the great majority of the heavenly
inhabitants preserve their nature's integrity. And the sinful will
though it violated the order of its own nature, did not on that account
escape the laws of God, who justly orders all things for good. For
as the beauty of a picture is increased by well-managed shadows, so,
to the eye that has skill to discern it, the universe is beautified
even by sinners, though, considered by themselves, their deformity is
a sad blemish.
In the second place, Origen, and all who think with him, ought to
have seen that if it were the true opinion that the world was created in
order that souls might, for their sins, be accommodated with bodies in
which they should be shut up as in houses of correction, the more
venial sinners receiving lighter and more ethereal bodies, while the
grosser and graver sinners received bodies more crass and grovelling,
then it would follow that the devils, who are deepest in wickedness,
ought, rather than even wicked men, to have earthly bodies, since
these are the grossest and least ethereal of all, But in point of
fact, that we might see that the deserts of souls are not to be
estimated by the qualities of bodies, the wickedest devil possesses an
ethereal body, while man, wicked, it is true, but with a wickedness
small and venial in comparison with his, received even before his sin a
body of clay. And what more foolish assertion can be advanced than
that God, by this sun of ours, did not design to benefit the material
creation, or lend lustre to its loveliness, and therefore created one
single sun for this single world, but that it so happened that one soul
only had so sinned as to deserve to be enclosed in such a body as it
is? On this principle, if it had chanced that not one, but two,
yea, or ten, or a hundred had sinned similarly, and with a like
degree of guilt, then this world would have one hundred suns. And
that such is not the case, is due not to the considerate foresight of
the Creator, contriving the safety and beauty of things material, but
rather to the fact that so fine a quality of sinning was hit upon by
only one soul, so that it alone has merited such a body. Manifestly
persons holding such opinions should aim at confining, not souls of
which they know not what they say, but themselves, lest they fall,
and deservedly, far indeed from the truth. And as to these three
answers which I formerly recommended when in the case of any creature
the questions are put, Who made it? By what means? Why? that it
should be replied, God, By the Word, Because it was good, as to
these three answers, it is very questionable whether the Trinity
itself is thus mystically indicated, that is, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, or whether there is some good reason for this
acceptation in this passage of Scripture, this, I say, is
questionable, and one can't be expected to explain everything in one
volume.
|
|