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| Chapter XIV
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Chapter XIV.
The following, then, are his words:
“It is folly on their part to suppose that when God, as if He
were a cook,4127
introduces the fire
(which is to consume the world), all the rest of the human race will be
burnt up, while they alone will remain, not only such of them as are
then alive, but also those who are long since dead, which latter will
arise from the earth clothed with the self-same flesh (as during life);
for such a hope is simply one which might be cherished by worms.
For what sort of human soul is that which would still long for a body
that had been subject to corruption? Whence, also, this opinion
of yours is not shared by some of the Christians, and they pronounce it
to be exceedingly vile, and loathsome, and impossible; for what kind of
body is that which, after being completely corrupted, can return to its
original nature, and to that self-same first condition out of which it
fell into dissolution? Being unable to return any answer, they
betake themselves to a most absurd refuge, viz., that all things are
possible to God. And yet God cannot do things that are
disgraceful, nor does He wish to do things that are contrary to His
nature; nor, if (in accordance with the wickedness of your own heart)
you desired anything that was evil, would God accomplish it; nor must
you believe at once that it will be done. For God does not rule
the world in order to satisfy inordinate desires, or to allow disorder
and confusion, but to govern a nature that is upright and
just.4128
| 4128 οὐ γὰρ τῆς
πλημμελοῦς
ὀρέξεως,
οὐδὲ τῆς
πεπλανημένης
ἀκοσμίας,
ἀλλὰ τῆς
ὀρθῆς καὶ
δικαίας
φύσεως Θεός
ἐστιν
ἀρχηγέτης. | For the soul, indeed, He might
be able to provide an everlasting life; while dead bodies, on
the contrary, are, as Heraclitus observes, more worthless than
dung. God, however, neither can nor will declare, contrary to all
reason, that the flesh, which is full of those things which it is not
even honourable to mention, is to exist for ever. For He is the
reason of all things that exist, and therefore can do nothing either
contrary to reason or contrary to Himself.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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