Novatian, On the Trinity 8

The Church knows and worships this God, setting aside the fables and inventions of heretics. Both invisible and visible things, and indeed all of nature at all times, bear witness to him. Angels adore him, the stars marvel at him, the seas bless him, the lands revere him, and everything in hell looks up to him. Every human mind perceives him, even if it does not speak of him. By his command all things are set in motion: fountains gush forth, rivers flow, waves surge, every creature gives birth to its young, winds are compelled to blow, rains fall, seas are stirred, and everywhere all things spread their fertility. He planted a paradise in the east, a world of eternal life, for the first-formed humans; he planted the tree of life and likewise placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; he gave a command and fixed a sentence against transgression. He rescued righteous Noah from the dangers of the flood because of his innocence and faith; he transferred Enoch; he called Abraham into the fellowship of friendship; he protected Isaac; he increased Jacob; he appointed Moses as leader of the people; he delivered the groaning sons of Israel from the yoke of slavery; he wrote the law; he brought the offspring of the fathers into the land of promise; he instructed the prophets by the Spirit; and through all these he promised his Son Christ, and when he had promised to give him, he sent him. Through the Son he willed that we should come to knowledge, and he poured out the wide embrace of his mercy upon us, conferring a rich Spirit upon the needy and the afflicted. Because he is generous, bountiful, and good, he did not want this whole world to wither, turned away from the rivers of his grace; therefore he willed that apostles, instructors of our race, be sent into all the world through his Son, so that the human race might recognize its teacher and, if it chose to follow, might have someone to call Father in its prayers. His providence does not only run through individual human beings, but also through cities and nations, whose outcomes the voices of prophets have foretold; indeed, even through the whole world, whose end, plagues, diminutions, and punishments he has described because of its unbelief. And so that no one might think this untiring providence of God does not reach even the smallest things, the Lord says: not one of two sparrows falls without the Father's will, and even all the hairs of your head are numbered (Psalm 68:17). His care and providence did not allow the clothes of the Israelites to wear out, nor their sandals, the most worthless things, to deteriorate, nor even the captives' hair to be burned. Not without reason; for if he embraces and contains all things — and all things and the whole consist of individual parts — then his care consequently reaches each individual thing, since his providence extends to the whole, whatever it is. Therefore he sits upon the cherubim; that is, he presides over the variety of his works, with the living creatures subject to his throne, holding principality over the rest, and all things covered above with crystal — that is, the heaven stretching over all things. The heaven was solidified in the firmament from the flowing matter of waters by God's command, so that the robust ice of the waters that once covered the earth might divide the middle, supporting the weight of the upper waters with strengths reinforced by frost. Wheels also lie beneath — namely, the times — by which all the members of the world are always turned; feet are added to them so that these things do not stand forever, but pass away. And through all their parts they are studded with starry eyes; for the works of God are to be contemplated with a vigilant gaze. In their midst is the fire of coals; either because this world hastens toward the fiery day of judgment, or because all the works of God are fiery and not dark but vigorous, or also because, lest these things, which arose from earthly principles, might naturally grow cold from the rigor of their origin, the warm nature of the inner Spirit has been added to all, providing equal balances for all congealed bodies for the use of life. This, then, is the chariot of God, according to David. For he says: the chariot of God is multiplied ten thousand times, that is, innumerable, infinite, immense. For under the yoke of the natural law given to all, some things are drawn back as if by reins, and others are driven forward as if by loosened reins. Both the angels and the stars guide this world, the chariot of God, with all things; we see their various courses, though bound by certain laws, leading to the goals of their appointed time, so that we too, with the apostle, marveling at the artisan and his works, may well exclaim: the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and unsearchable his ways, and all the rest.