Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

404 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ANDAgain, in opposition to the fabulous appearancesof the gods, it is from the goodness of the Godheadthat he deduces its unchans;eableness, / inas-much as what is perfect .T can neither be changed Oby anything else, nor change itself, and so becomeworse. He adds, the Godhead will never showitself to men other than it is, since all falsehoodis foreign to it; inasmuch as to falsehood in theproperest sense, that is, ignorance and self-deception,it is not exposed, and has 110 need to deceiveothers. He extols the divine perfection, to whichno beauty and no excellence is wanting; the divinepower, which embraces everything and cando everything which is possible, that is, whichdoes not involve a moral or a metaphysical con-tradiction : /or instance, it is impossible for Godto wish to change Himself, for evil to cease, andfrom the doctrine respecting the forming of theworld and matter it is clear that the divine activityin producing is limited by the nature of thefinite.53 He extols the divine wisdom which dis-53 Zeller, vol. ii. part 1, p. 487, remarks of Plato's doctrine: " So faras things are the appearance and the image of the Idea, they must bedetermined by the Idea; so far as they have in themselves a properprinciple in matter, they must be determined likewise by necessity :since, certain as it is that the world is the work of reason, it is as littleto be left out of mind that in its formation beside reason another blindlyin- ^^ Twork not absolutely perfect, but only so good as the nature of the finitemitted : and ne refers to mwill suffice, wherein at the conclusion of a review of the pof things Plato says: ravra Sij iravra r6re ravry iretyv^ra e|Ka\\iffTOv re Kal api