Consider, O Man, God's Works

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  (Psalm 19:1-2)

Consider, O man, His works,—the timely rotation of the seasons, and the changes of temperature; the regular march of the stars; the well-ordered course of days and nights, and months, and years; the various beauty of seeds, and plants, and fruits; and the divers species of quadrupeds, and birds, and reptiles, and fishes, both of the rivers and of the sea; or consider the instinct implanted in these animals to beget and rear offspring, not for their own profit, but for the use of man; and the providence with which God provides nourishment for all flesh, or the subjection in which He has ordained that all things subserve mankind.  Consider, too, the flowing of sweet fountains and never-failing rivers, and the seasonable supply of dews, and showers, and rains; the manifold movement of the heavenly bodies, the morning star rising and heralding the approach of the perfect luminary; and the constellation of Pleiades, and Orion, and Arcturus, and the orbit of the other stars that circle through the heavens, all of which the manifold wisdom of God has called by names of their own.

He is God alone who made light out of darkness, and brought forth light from His treasures, and formed the chambers of the south wind, and the treasure-houses of the deep, and the bounds of the seas, and the treasuries of snows and hail-storms, collecting the waters in the storehouses of the deep, and the darkness in His treasures, and bringing forth the sweet, and desirable, and pleasant light out of His treasures; who “makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.  He makes lightning for the rain;”* who sends forth His thunder to terrify, and foretells by the lightning the peal of the thunder, that no soul may faint with the sudden shock; and who so moderates the violence of the lightning as it flashes out of heaven, that it does not consume the earth; for, if the lightning were allowed all its power, it would burn up the earth; and were the thunder allowed all its power, it would overthrow all the works that are therein.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 1.6

* Jeremiah 51:16

God Ever Wills for Repentance

"Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets."  (2 Kings 17:13)

And we, too, confess a God, but one, the Creator, Maker, and Builder of the universe; and we acknowledge that all things are governed by His Providence, and by Him only.  And we have received a sacred law; but our Lawgiver is the true God, who teaches us to act justly, to live godly, and to do good.… But when [Israel] transgressed the law which God had given them, God, merciful and gracious, not willing to destroy them, not only gave the law, but afterwards sent forth prophets unto them from among their brethren, to teach and remind them of the things of the law, and to turn them to repentance that they should no longer sin… There are many or rather innumerable passages in Holy Writ relating to repentance, in which God ever wills that mankind should turn away from all their sins.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 3.9

God's Unsearchable Greatness

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.  (Psalm 145:3)

The appearance of God is ineffable and indescribable, and cannot be seen by eyes of flesh.  For in glory He is incomprehensible, in greatness unfathomable, in height inconceivable, in power incomparable, in wisdom unrivaled, in goodness inimitable, in kindness unutterable.  For if I say He is Light, I name but His own work.  If I call Him Word, I name but His sovereignty.  If I call Him Mind, I speak but of His wisdom.  If I say He is Spirit, I speak of His breath.  If I call Him Wisdom, I speak of His offspring.  If I call Him Strength, I speak of His sway.  If I call Him Power, I am mentioning His activity; if Providence, I but mention His goodness.  If I call Him Kingdom, I but mention His glory.  If I call Him Lord, I mention His being judge.  If I call Him Judge, I speak of Him as being just.  If I call Him Father, I speak of all things as being from Him.  If I call Him Fire, I but mention His anger.  You will say to me then, "Is God angry?"  Yes, He is angry with those who act wickedly, but He is good and kind and merciful to those who love and fear Him.  For He is a chastener of the godly and father of the righteous, but he is a judge and punisher of the impious.

And He is without beginning, because He is unbegotten; and He is unchangeable, because He is immortal.  And he is called God on account of His having placed all things on security afforded by Himself … running and moving and being active and nourishing and foreseeing and governing and making all things alive.  But he is Lord, because He rules over the universe; Father, because he is before all things; Fashioner and Maker, because He is creator and maker of the universe; the Highest, because of His being above all; and Almighty, because He Himself rules and embraces all.  For the heights of heaven, and the depths of the abysses, and the ends of the earth, are in His hand, and there is no place of His rest.  For the heavens are His work, the earth is His creation, the sea is His handiwork.  Man is His formation and His image.  Sun, moon, and stars are His elements, made for signs, and seasons, and days, and years, that they may serve and be slaves to man.  And all things God has made out of things that were not into things that are, in order that through His works His greatness may be known and understood.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 1.3-4