Epistle to Diognetus

Epistle to Diognetus 7:1

7:1 For it is no earthly discovery, as I said, which was committed to them, neither do they care to guard so carefully any mortal invention, nor have they entrusted to them the dispensation of human mysteries. 7:2 But truly the Almighty Creator of the Universe, the Invisible God Himself from heaven planted among men the truth and the holy teaching which surpasseth the wit of man, and fixed it firmly in their hearts, not as any man might imagine, by sending (to mankind) a subaltern, or angel, or ruler, or one of those that direct the affairs of earth, or one of those who have been entrusted with the dispensations in heaven, but the very Artificer and Creator of the Universe Himself, by Whom He made the heavens, by Whom He enclosed the sea in its proper bounds, Whose mysteries all the elements faithfully observe, from Whom [the sun] hath received even the measure of the courses of the day to keep them, Whom the moon obeys as He bids her shine by night, Whom the stars obey as they follow the course of the moon, by Whom all things are ordered and bounded and placed in subjection, the heavens and the things that are in the heavens, the earth and the things that are in the earth, the sea and the things that are in the sea, fire, air, abyss, the things that are in the heights, the things that are in the depths, the things that are between the two. Him He sent unto them. 2:3 Was He sent, think you, as any man might suppose, to establish a sovereignty, to inspire fear and terror? 2:4 Not so. But in gentleness [and] meekness has He sent Him, as a king might send his son who is a king. He sent Him, as sending God; He sent Him, as [a man] unto men; He sent Him, as Saviour, as using persuasion, not force: for force is no attribute of God. 2:5 He sent Him, as summoning, not as persecuting; He sent Him, as loving, not as judging. 2:6 For He will send Him in judgment, and who shall endure His presence? ... 2:7 [Dost thou not see] them thrown to wild beasts that so they may deny the Lord, and yet not overcome? 2:8 Dost thou not see that the more of them are punished, just so many others abound? 2:9 These look not like the works of a man; they are the power of God; they are proofs of His presence.