登陆注册
5214200000222

第222章

It is obvious, that in attributing the creation of the other animals to those inferior gods who were made by the Supreme, he meant it to be understood that the immortal part was taken from God Himself, and that these minor creators added the mortal part; that is to say, he meant them to be considered the creators of our bodies, but not of our souls.But since Porphyry maintains that if the soul is to be purified all entanglement with a body must be escaped from; and at the same time agrees with Plato and the Platonists in thinking that those who have not spent a temperate and honorable life return to mortal bodies as their punishment (to bodies of brutes in Plato's opinion, to human bodies in Porphyry's); it follows that those whom they would have us worship as our parents and authors, that they may plausibly call them gods, are, after all, but the forgers of our fetters and chains,--not our creators, but our jailers and turnkeys, who lock us up in the most bitter and melancholy house of correction.

Let the Platonists, then, either cease menacing us with our bodies as the punishment of our souls, or preaching that we are to worship as gods those whose work upon us they exhort us by all means in our power to avoid and escape from.But, indeed, both opinions are quite false.It is false that souls return again to this life to be punished; and it is false that there is any other creator of anything in heaven or earth, than He who made the heaven and the earth.For if we live in a body only to expiate our sins, how says Plato in another place, that the world could not have been the most beautiful and good, had it not been filled with all kinds of creatures, mortal and immortal?(3) But if our creation even as mortals be a divine benefit, I how is it a punishment to be restored to a body, that is, to a divine benefit?

And if God, as Plato continually maintains, embraced in His eternal intelligence the ideas both of the universe and of all the animals, how, then, should He not with His own hand make them all? Could He be unwilling to be the constructor of works, the idea and plan of which called for His ineffable and ineffably to be praised intelligence?

CHAP.27.--THAT THE WHOLE PLENITUDE OF THE HUMAN RACE WAS EMBRACED INTHE FIRST

MAN, AND THAT GOD THERE SAW THE PORTION OF IT WHICH WAS TO BE HONOREDAND

REWARDED, AND THAT WHICH WAS TO BE CONDEMNED AND PUNISHED.

With good cause, therefore, does the true religion recognize and proclaim that the same God who created the universal cosmos, created also all the animals, souls as well as bodies.Among the terrestrial animals man was made by Him in His own image, and, for the reason I have given, was made one individual, though he was not left solitary.For there is nothing so social by nature, so unsocial by its corruption, as this race.And human nature has nothing more appropriate, either for the prevention of discord, or for the healing of it, where it exists, than the remembrance of that first parent of us all, whom God was pleased to create alone, that all men might be derived from one, and that they might thus be admonished to preserve unity among their whole multitude.But from the fact that the woman was made for him from his side, it was plainly meant that we should learn how dear the bond between man and wife should be.These works of God do certainly seem extraordinary, because they are the first works.They who do not believe them, ought not to believe any prodigies; for these would not be called prodigies did they not happen out of the ordinary course of nature.But, is it possible that anything should happen in vain, however hidden be its cause, in so grand a government of divine providence? One of the sacred Psalmists says, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what prodigies He hath wrought in the earth."(1) Why God made woman out of man's side, and what this first prodigy prefigured, I shall, with God's help, tell in another place.But at present, since this book must be concluded, let us merely say that in this first man, who was created in the beginning, there was laid the foundation, not in.deed evidently, but in God's foreknowledge, of these two cities or societies, so far as regards the human race.For from that man all men were to be derived--some of them to be associated with the good angels in their reward, others with the wicked in punishment; all being ordered by the secret yet just judgment of God.For since it is written, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,"(2)neither can His grace be unjust, nor His justice cruel.

同类推荐
  • 清先正事略选

    清先正事略选

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 瑞竹堂经验方

    瑞竹堂经验方

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新唐书

    新唐书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 缃素杂记

    缃素杂记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 司牧宝鉴

    司牧宝鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 东野圭吾严选TOP10合集

    东野圭吾严选TOP10合集

    读完这些书,才有资格谈东野圭吾!哪些东野圭吾的作品,值得首先阅读?本集收录了最广泛认可的东野TOP10作品,包含:《秘密》、《白夜行》、《解忧杂货店》、《黎明之街》、《嫌疑人X的献身》、《恶意》、《新参者》、《放学后》、《红手指》、《谁杀了她》,让你不再错失最精华的部分!
  • 海峡两岸网络原创文学大赛入围作品选(10)短篇小说

    海峡两岸网络原创文学大赛入围作品选(10)短篇小说

    本系列图书精选“海峡两岸网络原创文学大赛”入围作品,分类结集成书。本书为第10册,收录第一届大赛14篇小说作品,包括都市情感类小说“窥”“十年”“那些美好的际遇,你还相信一见钟情吗”、浪漫爱情小说“案底”、以及青春校园类小说“那時花開”等短篇作品。
  • Prester John

    Prester John

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 我们都曾爱过白月光

    我们都曾爱过白月光

    即使历经生离死别,即使被抛弃,被背叛被欺骗。 她依然还是决定原谅他,继续爱他,因为她知道,他对她的那些心意,从此地直到月亮,悠远而漫长。
  • 从地球到月球(凡尔纳作品精选)

    从地球到月球(凡尔纳作品精选)

    这两部小说前后呼应,构成一个完整的故事:《从地球到月球》讲的是试验的由来、从地球到月球之旅的准备工作,以及大炮的发射;《环游月球》讲的是“炮弹车厢”发射之后在太空中的种种历险。小说的语言生动幽默,情节奇幻惊险,充满了作者儒尔·凡尔纳的科学设想,而这些设想在以后几乎又——得到验证和实现。凡尔纳在书中所塑造的人物有着远大的理想、坚强的性格、优秀的品质和高尚的情操,得到一代又一代读者的喜爱和尊敬;作者也像他笔下的人物一样,用智慧和勇敢创立了科学幻想和幻想科学的小说世界,激发着人类探险的热情。
  • 狼性的法则

    狼性的法则

    《狼性的法则》全面阐释,深度分析,做了有观点、有价值的评述。从狼性坚韧、狼性无畏、狼性多变、狼性准则、狼性心态、狼性追求、狼性忍耐、狼性狂野、狼性残暴、狼性纪律、狼性智慧、狼性团队、狼性沟通、狼性好奇、狼性专注15个角度,有深度有力度地展示了狼道智慧。
  • 英雄学院之最强个性

    英雄学院之最强个性

    在这黑暗与光明争斗不休的世界,One·For·All与All·for·One现世的年代,一个名叫戚风的少年悄然出世......雷神再临,万夫莫敌。空气操纵,恐怖如斯!(特别备注!):本书背景是我的英雄学院,但其中有大部分原创,还有魔改,加入了漫威DC元素,修仙元素,世界观比我英要大很多,总之应有尽有,无后宫,无虐主。按照个人口味食用,不喜勿喷,创作不易,多多支持!!!【起点第一本英雄学院百万字完结!】【备注】:新书《一拳超人之雷霆沙赞》已发布!群:450478600
  • 正妻攻略

    正妻攻略

    红云想尽了办法也不能逃过这一劫,她跟这货前世好似怨家不清不楚,如今才导致两人是纠缠不清。豪门恩怨事非多,婆婆是填房,小姑是阴毒,小叔又风流……总之这是小家碧玉如何成为一位豪门小霸正妻的故事!
  • 马云全传

    马云全传

    本书以全新的视角解读了马云的创业历程和管理精髓,其中,大量的事例让你更真实、更全面地了解马云,本书内容范围涉及创业、管理、经营、营销、融资、团队等诸多方面,是解读马云最全面的精品读物。在一个全民解读马云的时代,让我们一起走进马云,走进阿里巴巴!
  • 中统特务实录

    中统特务实录

    “中统”,是国民党的主要特务机构之一。本书系统讲述中统组织的历史沿革、遍布全国的情报网,介绍其核心人物,描述它对民主运动的残酷镇压,对中共组织的破坏、渗透活动。揭露其反共、反人民的罪恶本质。采用全新的历史叙述风格。