Chapter XVI.—The Christians Do Not Worship the Universe.

Beautiful without doubt is the world, excelling,45    Thus Otto; others render “comprising.” as well in its magnitude as in the arrangement of its parts, both those in the oblique circle and those about the north, and also in its spherical form.46    [The Ptolemaic universe is conceived of as a sort of hollow ball, or bubble, within which are the spheres moving about the earth. Milton adopts from Homer the idea of such a globe, or bubble, hanging by a chain from heaven (Paradise Lost, ii. 10, 51). The oblique circle is the zodiac. The Septentriones are referred to also. See Paradise Lost, viii. 65–168.] Yet it is not this, but its Artificer, that we must worship. For when any of your subjects come to you, they do not neglect to pay their homage to you, their rulers and lords, from whom they will obtain whatever they need, and address themselves to the magnificence of your palace; but, if they chance to come upon the royal residence, they bestow a passing glance of admiration on its beautiful structure: but it is to you yourselves that they show honour, as being “all in all.” You sovereigns, indeed, rear and adorn your palaces for yourselves; but the world was not created because God needed it; for God is Himself everything to Himself,—light unapproachable, a perfect world, spirit, power, reason. If, therefore, the world is an instrument in tune, and moving in well-measured time, I adore the Being who gave its harmony, and strikes its notes, and sings the accordant strain, and not the instrument. For at the musical contests the adjudicators do not pass by the lute-players and crown the lutes. Whether, then, as Plato says, the world be a product of divine art, I admire its beauty, and adore the Artificer; or whether it be His essence and body, as the Peripatetics affirm, we do not neglect to adore God, who is the cause of the motion of the body, and descend “to the poor and weak elements,” adoring in the impassible47    Some refer this to the human spirit. air (as they term it), passible matter; or, if any one apprehends the several parts of the world to be powers of God, we do not approach and do homage to the powers, but their Maker and Lord. I do not ask of matter what it has not to give, nor passing God by do I pay homage to the elements, which can do nothing more than what they were bidden; for, although they are beautiful to look upon, by reason of the art of their Framer, yet they still have the nature of matter. And to this view Plato also bears testimony; “for,” says he, “that which is called heaven and earth has received many blessings from the Father, but yet partakes of body; hence it cannot possibly be free from change.”48    Polit., p. 269, D. If, therefore, while I admire the heavens and the elements in respect of their art, I do not worship them as gods, knowing that the law of dissolution is upon them, how can I call those objects gods of which I know the makers to be men? Attend, I beg, to a few words on this subject.

Καλὸς μὲν γὰρ ὁ κόσμος καὶ τῷ μεγέθει περιέχων καὶ τῇ διαθέσει τῶν τε ἐν τῷ λοξῷ κύκλῳ καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν ἄρκτον καὶ τῷ σχήματι σφαιρικῷ ὄντι· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ τὸν τεχνίτην αὐτοῦ προσκυνητέον. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀφικνούμενοι ὑπήκοοι παραλιπόντες ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ δεσπότας θεραπεύειν παρ' ὧν ἄν, [ὧν] δέοιντο, καὶ τύχοιεν, ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνὸν τῆς καταγωγῆς ὑμῶν καταφεύγουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν βασιλικὴν ἑστίαν, τὴν ἄλλως ἐντυχόντες αὐτῇ, θαυμάζουσι καλῶς ἠσκημένην, ὑμᾶς δὲ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ἄγουσι τῇ δόξῃ. καὶ ὑμεῖς μὲν οἱ βασιλεῖς ἑαυτοῖς ἀσκεῖτε τὰς καταγωγὰς βασιλικάς, ὁ δὲ κόσμος οὐχ ὡς δεομένου τοῦ θεοῦ γέγονεν· πάντα γὰρ ὁ θεός ἐστιν αὐτὸς αὑτῷ, φῶς ἀπρόσιτον, κόσμος τέλειος, πνεῦμα, δύναμις, λόγος. εἰ τοίνυν ἐμμελὲς ὁ κόσμος ὄργανον κινούμενον ἐν ·υθμῷ, τὸν ἁρμοσάμενον καὶ πλήσσοντα τοὺς φθόγγους καὶ τὸ σύμφωνον ἐπᾴδοντα μέλος, οὐ τὸ ὄργανον προσ κυνῶ· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν παραλιπόντες οἱ ἀθλοθέται τοὺς κιθαριστάς, τὰς κιθάρας στεφανοῦσιν αὐτῶν· εἴτε, ὡς ὁ Πλάτων φησί, τέχνη τοῦ θεοῦ, θαυμάζων αὐτοῦ τὸ κάλλος τῷ τεχνίτῃ πρόσειμι· εἴτε οὐσία καὶ σῶμα, ὡς οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ Περιπάτου, οὐ παραλιπόντες προσκυνεῖν τὸν αἴτιον τῆς κινήσεως τοῦ σώματος θεὸν ἐπὶ τὰ πτωχὰ καὶ ἀσθενῆ στοιχεῖα καταπίπτομεν, τῷ ἀπαθεῖ ἀέρι κατ' αὐτοὺς τὴν παθητὴν ὕλην προσκυνοῦντες· εἴτε δυνάμεις τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου νοεῖ τις, οὐ τὰς δυνάμεις προσιόντες θεραπεύομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ποιητὴν αὐτῶν καὶ δεσπότην. οὐκ αἰτῶ τὴν ὕλην ἃ μὴ ἔχει, οὐδὲ παραλιπὼν τὸν θεὸν τὰ στοιχεῖα θεραπεύω, οἷς μηδὲν πλέον ἢ ὅσον ἐκελεύσθησαν ἔξεστιν· εἰ γὰρ καὶ καλὰ ἰδεῖν τῇ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τέχνῃ, ἀλλὰ λυτὰ τῇ τῆς ὕλης φύσει. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ καὶ Πλάτων· “ὃν” γὰρ “οὐρανόν”, φησί, “καὶ κόσμον ἐπωνομάκαμεν, πολλῶν μὲν μετέσχηκε [καὶ] μακαρίων παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ἀτὰρ οὖν δὴ κεκοινώνηκε [καὶ] σώματος· ὅθεν αὐτῷ μεταβολῆς ἀμοίρῳ τυγχάνειν ἀδύνατον.” εἰ τοίνυν θαυμάζων τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα τῆς τέχνης οὐ προσκυνῶ αὐτὰ ὡς θεοὺς εἰδὼς τὸν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τῆς λύσεως λόγον, ὧν οἶδα ἀνθρώπους δημιουργούς, πῶς ταῦτα προσείπω θεούς; Σκέψασθε δέ μοι διὰ βραχέων [...]