{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">For, who of men at all understood before His coming what\r\nGod is? Do you accept of the vain and silly doctrines of\r\nthose who are deemed trustworthy philosophers? of whom\r\nsome said that fire was God, calling that God to which they\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_311\">311</span>themselves were by and by to come; and some water; and\r\nothers some other of the elements formed by God. But if\r\nany one of these theories be worthy of approbation, every one\r\nof the rest of created things might also be declared to be\r\nGod. But such declarations are simply the startling and\r\nerroneous utterances of deceivers;<a id=\"r1500\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1500\"><sup>[1500]</sup></a> and no man has either\r\nseen Him, or made Him known,<a id=\"r1501\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1501\"><sup>[1501]</sup></a> but He has revealed Himself.\r\nAnd He has manifested Himself through faith, to\r\nwhich alone it is given to behold God. For God, the Lord\r\nand Fashioner of all things, who made all things, and assigned\r\nthem their several positions, proved Himself not merely a\r\nfriend of mankind, but also long-suffering [in His dealings\r\nwith them]. Yea, he was always of such a character, and\r\nstill is, and will ever be, kind and good, and free from wrath,\r\nand true, and the only one who is [absolutely] good;<a id=\"r1502\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1502\"><sup>[1502]</sup></a> and\r\nHe formed in His mind a great and unspeakable conception,\r\nwhich He communicated to His Son alone. As long, then,\r\nas He held and preserved His own wise counsel in concealment,<a id=\"r1503\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1503\"><sup>[1503]</sup></a>\r\nhe appeared to neglect us, and to have no care over\r\nus. But after He revealed and laid open, through His\r\nbeloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the\r\nbeginning, He conferred every blessing<a id=\"r1504\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1504\"><sup>[1504]</sup></a> all at once upon us,\r\nso that we should both share in His benefits, and see and be\r\nactive<a id=\"r1505\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1505\"><sup>[1505]</sup></a> [in His service]. Who of us would ever have expected\r\nthese things? He was aware, then, of all things in\r\nHis own mind, along with His Son, according to the relation<a id=\"r1506\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1506\"><sup>[1506]</sup></a>\r\nsubsisting between them.</p>","headings":["The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers","THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS.","THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS.","Chap. viii.—The miserable state of men before the coming of the Word."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg77576-paragraph-641"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"29247871b2e7b97391095e3a93d0b046fff1a3569ec3b0d2783cc881909a61f8","edition_title":"The writings of the Apostolic Fathers","edition_translators":["Alexander Roberts","James Donaldson","Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1870,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg77576-f1504","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Historical 1870 English edition; electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f1504","source_ebook":77576,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1504\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1504\">1504</a>. </span>Literally, “all things.”</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"5cef11d737d7f5d65aa99f44ca2d8e967d725f3bed872960330e88c0905597a9","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/77576/pg77576-images.html#f1504","text_sha256":"6c852757b6f3ba9579210361b0ff6f93202d11034c587b3f6ff535aaea5c6faa","verified":false,"work_id":null}