One God, the Father of the Word

God, who is forever above all being, and who is the good that all things desire, has no origin and therefore no beginning, since he himself is the origin of all things that receive existence. But the one who comes forth from him is again united to him; and this separation from him and union with him is not a matter of place, but of the mind. For this birth took nothing away from the Father’s substance, as happens in birth from seed. Rather, by the deciding act of his foreknowledge, God made known a Savior to preside over this world of the senses and over all the created things in it. From this, then, comes the source of existence and life for all things within the compass of this world. From this come the soul and every sense, and from this come the organs through which the perceptions of the senses are made complete. [a]

What, then, is the point of this argument? To prove that there is One who directs all things that exist, and that all things, whether in heaven or on earth, both natural and organized bodies, are subject to his single rule. For if the rule of these things, countless as they are, were in the hands not of one but of many, the elements would have to be divided and shared out among them, and the old myths would be true. Jealousy, too, and ambition, striving for greater power, would destroy the harmonious agreement of the whole, while each of the many masters governed the share under his control in a way different from the rest. But the fact that this universal order is always one and the same proves that it is in the care of a higher power, and that its origin cannot be credited to chance.

Otherwise, how could the author of all nature ever be known? To whom first, or to whom last, could prayers and petitions be addressed? Whom could I choose as the object of my worship without being guilty of irreverence toward the rest? Again, if I happened to want some blessing in this life, would I not, while thanking the power that granted my request, be reproaching the one who opposed it? Or to whom should I pray when I wanted to learn the cause of my misfortune and to be delivered from it? Or suppose that the answer is given by oracles and prophecies, but that the case is not within their authority, because it belongs to the province of some other god. Where, then, is mercy? Where is God’s provident care for the human race? Unless, indeed, some kinder power, taking a hostile stand against another who has no such feeling, should be willing to grant me his protection.

From this would come anger, quarrels, mutual blame, and finally universal confusion, as each one left his own proper sphere, dissatisfied with his allotted share out of an ambitious love of power. What, then, would come of all this? Surely this discord among the heavenly powers would be ruinous to the affairs of earth. The orderly turn of times and seasons would vanish; the earth’s harvests, each in its turn, would be enjoyed no more; the day itself, and the rest of the night that follows it, would cease to be. But enough on this subject. Let us return once more to the kind of reasoning that admits no reply.