34. And who can deny that the creation of
the earth is the work of the Holy Spirit, Whose work it is that it is
renewed? For if they desire to deny that it was created by the
Spirit, since they cannot deny that it must be renewed by the Spirit,
they who desire to sever the Persons must maintain that the operation
of the Holy Spirit is superior to that of the Father and the Son, which
is far from the truth; for there is no doubt that the restored earth is
better than it was created. Or if at first, without the operation
of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son made the earth, but the
operation of the Holy Spirit was joined on afterwards, it will seem
that that which was made required His aid, which was then added.
But far be it from any one to think this, namely, that the divine work
should be believed to have a change in the Creator, an error brought in
by Manicheus. Manes, or
Manicheus, born about a.d. 240, seems to have
desired to blend Christianity and Zoroastrianism. The fundamental
point of his teaching was the recognition of a good and an evil
creator. For a full account, see art. “Manicheans,”
in Dict. Ch. Biog.