Page:Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, 1842.djvu/51

19 man, neglecting  the  Divine  commands,  fell  into  the  present  mortal and afflicted  condition,  and  exchanged  his  former  divine  enjoyment  for  the  present  earth,  subject  to  the  curse. The descendants of  this  one,  having  filled  our  earth,  and  proved  themselves much worse,  excepting  one  here  and  another  there,  commenced  a certain  brutal  and  disorderly  mode  of  life. They had  neither  city nor state,  no  arts  or  sciences,  even  in  contemplation. Laws and justice, virtue  and  philosophy  they  knew  not,  even  in  name. They wandered lawless  through  the  desert,  like  savage  and  fierce  animals, destroying  the  intellectual  faculty  of  man,  and  exterminating  the  very  seeds  of  reason  and  culture  of  the  human  mind,  by the  excesses  of  determined  wickedness,  and  by  a  total  surrender of themselves  to  every  species  of  iniquity.

Hence, at  one  time  they  corrupted  each  other  by  criminal  intercourse; at  another,  they  murdered;  and  at  others,  fed  upon human flesh. Hence too,  their  audacity,  in  venturing  to  wage war with  the  Deity  himself;  and  hence  those  battles  of  the  giants, celebrated by  all. Hence too,  their  attempts  to  wall  up  the  earth against heaven,  and  by  the  madness  of  a  perverted  mind,  to  prepare an  attack  upon  the  supreme  God  himself. Upon these  men, leading a  life  of  such  wickedness,  the  Omniscient  God  sent  down inundations and  conflagrations,  as  upon  a  forest  scattered  over  the earth. He cut  them  down  with  successive  famines  and  pestilence, with constant  wars  and  thunderbolts,  as  if  to  suppress  the  dreadful and  obdurate  disease  of  the  soul,  with  his  more  severe  punishments. Then it  was,  when  the  excess  of  malignity  had  nearly overwhelmed all  the  world,  like  a  deep  fit  of  drunkenness  overshadowing and  beclouding  the  minds  of  men — then  it  was,  that the first  begotten  wisdom  of  God,  existing  before  all  creatures,  and the self-same  pre-existing  word,  induced  by  his  exceeding  love  of man,  appeared  at  times  to  his  servants,  in  visions  of  angels;  at others,  in  his  own  person. As the  salutary  power  of  God,  he  was seen by  one  and  the  other  of  the  pious  in  ancient  times,  in  the shape of  man,  because  it  was  impossible  to  appear  in  any  other way. And as  by  these  pious  men,  the  seeds  of  godliness  had  been already scattered  among  the  mass  of  mankind,  and  the  whole  nation that  claimed  its  origin  from  those  ancient  Hebrews,  continued