Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/153

Rh the heaven to be God they are false. For the heavens are the work of the true God. And the heaven is of air and of fire, and is stretched out over the earth and is the screen between things seen and things unseen, between the (in)create and the changing. So, then, if any deem the sun and moon and stars to be gods, and so speak, they do so falsely. For they are not God, but created beings, appointed by God to subserve the world and to minister to day and night. And if again they declare water to be God, they lie. For the waters were made for the use of the world by God, and they are liable to be more or to be less, and also admit of change, since they are hot or cold. And if they declare fire to be God, neither in this do they aught but lie, since fire also was made for the uses of men. It giveth light and heat, but is destroyed by water and darkness. And how are these gods, when some are more powerful than others, so that they annul each other? But if they declare man to be God, that is yet more baseless. For from man and woman is he born, and taketh on all wants and bodily affections. Then he grows old and his fashion changeth and fadeth; and after all that he is heritor of the general death: he perisheth and rolleth away. For he is placed in the tomb and decayeth there, and is turned again into the dust out of which he was taken. How, then, can he that perishes and passes away be the object of worship? I pass by the (superstitions) of the Hellenes and of the Egyptians and of the Chaldaeans, who instead of the immortal God worship men and women, harlots and Sodomites, and all other kinds of evil doers, yea, and the rat and the weasel and all sorts of vermin; and out of these godless beings they have made gods.

"But Christians from Christ have this knowledge. For they confess the all-holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in person and name divided, but in substance and nature, will and energy, in power and authority, in lordship and divinity united. And the one only-begotten, proceeding from three persons in unity, was made flesh out of the Holy Virgin Mary. The only-begotten Son, the word of the Father. He was conceived and born without seed, was manifested on earth, and walked among men, to free frcm the folly of polytheism those men who believe in him ; and, having perfected all for which he was sent by the Father, and having suffered the cross and death of his own free will, he was buried in the tomb; he plundered Hell, and broke the power of Satan, and freed the imprisoned spirits from their bonds, and raised them in the glory of His Father into Heaven. And He sat down on the right hand on high, and sent down unto his disciples the Holy Spirit, his fellow being, the fellow-sharer of the father's glory, and the Comforter. And they, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, preached to all the heathen, baptism of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and taught all men to keep his commandments. And this is the command and code of Jesus Christ. Purity of mind, holiness of soul, pity for the poor, love of neighbours, humanity towards brethren; to eschew evil and follow the good, to do good to enemies; fasting, and prayer, and pity for the poor; not to fornicate, or rob, or slay, nor lie, nor bear false witness; but to live in truth, love God and your neighbour sincerely; to