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On the Theophania
Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. Lee, 1843
How then, after (the detail of) these things could it be becoming, that the element of …
How then, after (the detail of) these things could it be becoming, that the element of earth alone should be wanting in the provision which (prevails) in all? Or, that this nature which is generative of all these fruits, should stand alone, in withholding its meed of praise? Or, that the life which is (passed) on the earth, bearing every sort of fruit, should be barren as to (that of) the intelligent creature? Would it not rather appear that this would seem good to Him,—who is the fulness of all wisdom, the Maker of all,—that He should for His own sake, sow this locality of earth with beings intelligent and rational? and should, for the use of these, provide the rest of the creatures, as also that which is generative of fruits and flowers? And that He should here also join the praise of men, to that which is rendered by the companies of all (else), to His own Father? And this was so done in former times:—this, that man, who had been made in the image of God, honoured with hymns and songs the Word, his Father, together with the divine and rational assemblies, and with the several orders of angels. His mind had not then erred in the setting up of inanimate images under the phantasms of demoniacal deception, nor under the stories of error common to polytheism: for these things recently, and after a time, became known through the vain babblings of the poets. Those primitive chiefs of our race, who hitherto had not learned the arts of modelling, hewing, and carving, and had made no use of this extreme metal-working art of evil deeds, called upon the Maker of the whole universe and their Lord, in the simplicity of their souls, and in the mind of their (unsophisticated) nature: and Him alone did they confess, in their instruction which was mental, to be the Lord and God of all. And as these did, so did the chief of our nature (Adam), as also did the Hebrew race, which was in ancient times beloved of God, and received, as a son from his father, the good inheritance of the observances of the fear of God. But these honoured nothing with purity of life, and with the observances of the fear of God, except the one God, the King who is above all, and His Word who is the Saviour of all. On this account, they were considered worthy of the revelation of the Word of God, of prophecy, and of the doctrines of righteousness.