Novatian, On the Trinity 1

The rule of truth demands that we believe first of all in God the Father and Lord Almighty, the most perfect Creator of all things (Genesis 1:1). He suspended the heavens in high sublimity, solidified the earth with its thrown-down mass, poured out the seas with loosened liquid, and arranged and filled all these things with their own proper and worthy instruments. In the firmament he lit the light-bringing sun, filled the shining globe of the moon with measured increments of its orbit for the night's solace, and kindled the rays of the stars with varied brilliances of sparkling light. He willed that all these bodies circle the whole circuit of the world in their ordained courses, making days, months, years, signs, seasons, and utilities for the human race. On the earth he lifted the highest mountains to their peaks, cast the valleys down to the depths, spread the plains evenly, and usefully instituted herds of animals for varied human service. He hardened the timber of forests for human use, brought forth crops for food, opened the mouths of springs, and fed the flowing rivers. Lest he fail to provide for the eyes' delight as well, he clothed everything with the varied colors of flowers for the pleasure of beholders. Even in the sea, though it was wondrous in magnitude and utility, he fashioned many kinds of creatures, some of moderate size, some of vast bulk, testifying to the artisan's ingenuity through the variety of their making. Not content with these, lest the roar and rush of the waters — at the loss of the human possessor — should encroach on an alien element, he enclosed the shores with boundaries. Thus when the foaming wave and spuming surge came, they would turn back into themselves and not exceed the granted limits, keeping the prescribed laws, so that humanity might keep the divine laws all the more, since even the elements kept them. After these things he also placed man in the world, made indeed in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). He gave him mind, reason, and prudence, so that he might imitate God. Though his body was of earthly origin, a heavenly and divine breath was breathed into his substance. Having given all things into servitude to him, God willed that he alone should be free. And lest this loosened freedom lead him into danger, he set a command — not to teach that evil was present in the tree's fruit, but that it would come, if perhaps from the will of man, from contempt of the given law, as a warning. Man ought to be free, lest the image of God serve incongruously; and the law was added lest unbridled freedom burst forth into contempt of the Giver. Thus he would receive fitting rewards and deserved punishments, having the power to move his mind in either direction. From this, mortality — certainly envy — returns upon him. When he could have escaped it through obedience, he fell into it instead, hastening to be God by perverted counsel. Yet God tempered his punishment indulgently: not the man himself, but his labors are cursed upon the earth. For what is required comes not from ignorance, but shows the hope of humanity's future in Christ — both discovery and salvation. And the prohibition against touching the wood of the tree of life does not spring from malignant envy, but lest, living eternally, man should carry his immortal delict into punishment unless Christ had first given sins. Although in the realms above — that is, above the firmament itself, in parts not visible to our eyes today — he previously instituted angels, arranged spiritual virtues, established thrones and powers, and founded many other immense spaces of the heavens and infinite works of sacraments, this vast world, though it may seem the latest, rather appears to be the work of God's bodily creation, not alone. For the things beneath the earth are not empty of arranged and ordered powers. There is a place where the souls of the pious and impious are led, feeling the pre-judgments of the future judgment, so that we might not see the overflowing magnitudes of his works only within the most capacious bosom of this world, as we have said, but might also contemplate them beneath this world and in its depths and heights. Thus, considering the magnitude of the works, we may worthily wonder at the Artisan of so great a mass.