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Chapter
VI.—God’s Power of Changing Himself.
When Peter heard this, he thought for a little,
and said: “I do not think that any one can converse about
evil without doing the will of the evil one. Therefore knowing
this, I do not know what I shall do, whether I shall be silent or
speak. For if I be silent, I should incur the laughter of the
multitude, because, professing to proclaim the truth, I am ignorant of
the explanation of vice. But if I should state my opinion, I am
afraid lest it be not at all pleasing to God that we should seek after
evil, for only seeking after good is pleasing to Him. However, in
my reply to the statements of Sophonias, I shall make my ideas more
plain. I then agree with him in thinking that we ought not to
attribute to God all the qualities of men. For instance, men not
having bodies that are convertible are not converted; but they have a
nature that admits of alteration by the lapse of time through the
seasons of the year. But this is not the case with God; for
through His inborn1495 Spirit He
becomes, by a power which cannot be described, whatever body He
likes. And one can the more easily believe this, as the air,
which has received such a nature from Him, is converted into dew by the
incorporeal mind permeating it, and being thickened becomes water, and
water being compacted becomes stone and earth, and stones through
collision light up fire. According to such1496
1496 We have changed
τοιοῦτον into
τοιαύτην. | a change and conversion, air becomes
first water, and ends in being fire through conversions, and the moist
is converted into its natural opposite. Why? Did not God
convert the rod of Moses into an animal, making it a serpent,1497 which He reconverted into a rod?
And by means of this very converted rod he converted the water of the
Nile1498 into blood, which again he reconverted
into water. Yea, even man, who is dust, He changed by the
inbreathing of His breath1499 into flesh, and
changed him back again into dust.1500 And was
not Moses,1501 who himself was
flesh, converted into the grandest light, so that the sons of Israel
could not look him in the face? Much more, then, is God
completely able to convert Himself into whatsoever He
wishes.
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