If a man looks with loving compassion on his suffering fellow men, and out of bitterness inquires of the gods,"Why do you afflict my brothers?" then surely he is gazed upon more tenderly by God than a man who congratulates Him on being merciful so that he flourishes happily, and has only words of adoration to offer. For the first prays out of love and pity, divine attributes, and so close to the heart of God, and the other speaks out of selfish complacency, a beastly attribute, which does not approach the circumambient light of the spirit of God.
Those pagans. No wonder we had to replace their compassionate, pitying God with one full of wrath!
Posted by: Barbara | July 07, 2008 at 01:56 AM
I think it's interesting that his descriptions of divinity are quite similar to later Christian ones.
Posted by: gail | July 07, 2008 at 07:18 AM