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IS THERE A CREATOR
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"But let this impious and monstrous fancy be put far [from us], that Almighty God, the creator and framer, the author of the things great and invisible, should be believed to have begotten souls so fickle, with no seriousness, firmness, and steadiness, prone to vice, inclining to all kinds of sins; and while he knew that there were such and of this character, to have bid them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which, they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of fortune every day, and now do mean things, now submit to lewd treatment; that they might perish by shipwreck, accidents, destructive conflagrations "(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. pp. 112-113.
"These things are unworthy of him, and weaken the force of his greatness; and so far from his being believed to be their author, whoever imagines that man is sprung from Him is guilty of blas. phemous impiety, [man] a being miserable and wretched, who is sorry that he exists, hates and laments his state, and understands that he was produced for no other reason than lest evils should not have something through which to spread themselves, and that there might always be wretched ones by whose agonies some unseen and cruel power, adverse to men, should be gratified."-Ibid. pp. 114-115.
... we
"But, you say, if God is not the parent and father of souls, by what sire have they been begotten, and how have they been produced?... But are we bound to show whose they are, because we deny that they are God's? That by no means follows, for may not know who, indeed, gave them being, and [yet] assert that not by the Supreme Deity were [creatures] produced so useless, so needless, so purposeless, nay more, at times even hurtful, and causing unavoidable injuries. Here, too, in like manner, when we deny that souls are the offspring of God Supreme, it does not necessarily follow that we are bound to declare from what parent they have sprung, and by what causes they have been produced."-Ibid. p. 115. Béloved,' says he, now are we the sons of God,' not by natural affection, but because we have God as our father. For it is the greater love that, seeing we have no relationship to God, He nevertheless loves us and calls us His sons."-(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 151.
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God does not even make any one respire; the soul respires itself.
