Novatian, On the Trinity 1
The rule of truth demands that first of all we believe in God the Father and Lord Almighty, the most perfect creator of all things. He suspended the heavens in their high sublimity, solidified the earth with a thrown-down mass, poured out the seas with loosened liquid, and arranged and filled all these with their own proper and worthy instruments (Genesis 1:1). In the firmament he kindled the light-bringing sun, filled the moon's shining globe with measured increments of its orbit to comfort the night, and ignited the stars' rays with varied brilliance. He willed them all to circle the whole world's circuit by fixed paths, providing humanity with days, months, years, signs, seasons, and benefits. On earth he lifted the highest mountains to their peaks, sank the valleys to their depths, spread the plains evenly, and usefully ordained herds of animals for human service. He hardened the forests' strength for human use, brought forth crops for food, opened the springs' mouths, and fed the flowing rivers. Afterward, to provide for the eyes' delight, he clothed everything with flowers' varied colors for the spectators' pleasure. In the sea, though already marvelous in size and utility, he fashioned creatures of many kinds -- now moderate, now vast in body -- testifying to the artisan's skill through the variety of his design. Not content with these, lest the waters' roar and surge, at human expense, encroach on a foreign element, he bounded the shores so that when foaming waves and spuming surges came, they would turn back into themselves and not exceed their granted limits, keeping the prescribed laws -- so that humans might keep divine laws all the more, since even the elements obey them. After this he also placed man in the world, made in God's image, giving him mind, reason, and prudence to imitate God. Though his body has earthly origins, a heavenly and divine breath was inspired into his substance. Having given all things into his service, God willed him to be free alone. Lest this freedom fall into danger again, he gave a command: not because evil was present in the tree's fruit, but so that if man chose to despise the law, the warning would be future, and he ought to remain free, lest God's image incongruously serve. The law was added lest unbridled liberty burst forth into contempt for the Giver, so that man would consequently receive fitting rewards and deserved punishments, now possessing the very thing he willed to direct by his mind's motion either way. From this mortality, certainly envy, returned upon him: he could have escaped through obedience, but fell back into it while hastening to be God by perverse counsel. Yet God tempered the punishment indulgently, cursing not the man himself but his labors on the earth. What is required comes not from ignorance but shows the hope of humanity's future in Christ -- both invention and salvation. The prohibition against touching the tree of life comes not from malignant envy, but lest, living forever, man carry his immortal guilt into punishment unless Christ first forgave sins. Although in the realms above -- above the firmament itself, in parts not visible to our eyes today -- he previously instituted angels, arranged spiritual virtues, established thrones and powers, and founded many other immense heavenly spaces and infinite sacramental works, so that this vast world appears almost the last rather than the only work of God's bodily creation. The regions beneath the earth are not empty of ordered and arranged powers. There is a place where the souls of the pious and impious are led, experiencing the future judgment's pre-judgments. Thus the overflowing magnitudes of God's works are not confined within this world's most capacious embrace, as we have said, but extend beneath it, in its depths and heights, so that considering the works' magnitude we may worthily wonder at the Artisan of such great bulk.
Latin
Regula exigit ueritatis ut primo omnium credamus in deum patrem et dominum omnipotentem, id est, rerum omnium perfectissimum conditorem, qui caelum alta sublimitate suspenderit, terram deiecta mole solidauerit, maria soluto liquore diffuderit, et haec omnia propriis et condignis instrumentis et ornata et plena digesserit. nam et in solidamento caeli luciferos solis ortus excitauit, lunae candentem globum ad solacium noctis mensurnis incrementis orbis impleuit, astrorum etiam radios uariis fulgoribus micantis lucis accendit: et haec omnia legitimis meatibus circumire totum mundi ambitum uoluit, humano generi dies, menses, annos, signa, tempora, utilitatesque factura. in terris quoque altissimos montes in uerticem sustulit, ualles in ima deiecit, campos aequaliter strauit, animalium greges ad uarias hominum seruitutes utiliter instituit. siluarum quoque robora humanis usibus profutura solidauit, fruges in cibum elicuit, fontium ora reserauit, et lapsuris fluminibus infudit. post quae, ne non etiam ipsis quoque deliciis procurasset oculorum, uariis florum coloribus ad uoluptatem spectantium cuncta uestiuit. in ipso quoque mari, quamuis esset et magnitudine et utilitate mirabile, multimoda animalia, nunc mediocris, nunc uasticorporis fingit, ingenium artificis de institutionis uarietate testantia. quibus non contentus, ne forte fremitus et cursus aquarum, cum dispendio possessoris humani, alienum occuparet elementum, fines litoribus inclusit: quo cum fremens fluctus et ex alto sinu spumans unda uenisset, rursum in se rediret nec terminos concessos excederet, seruans iura praescripta: ut diuinas leges tanto magis homo custodiret, quanto illas etiam elementa seruassent. Post quae hominem quoque mundo praeposuit et quidem ad imaginem dei factum: cui mentem et rationem indidit et prudentiam, ut deum posset imitari: cuius etsi corporis terrena primordia, caelestis tamen et diuini halitus inspirata substantia: quem, cum omnia in seruitutem illi dedisset, solum liberum esse uoluit. et ne in periculum caderet rursum soluta libertas, mandatum posuit, quo tamen non inesse malum fructu arboris doceretur, sed futurum, si forte, ex uoluntate hominis de contemptu datae legis praemonenam et liber esse debuerat, ne incongruenter dei imago seruiret: et lex addenda, ne usque ad contemptum dantis libertas effrenata prorumperet: ut et praemia condigna et merita poenarum consequenter exciperet, suum iam habens illud, quod motu mentis in alterutram partem agitare uoluisset. ex quo mortalitas, inuidia utique, in ipsum redit; qui cum illam de oboedientia posset euadere, in eandem incurrit, dum ex consilio peruerso deus esse festinat. cuius tamen poenam nihilominus indulgenter temperauit, dum non tam ipse, quam labores eius maledicuntur super terra. nam et quod requiritur, non ex ignorantia uenit, sed spem hominis futurae in Christo et inuentionis et salutis ostendit: et quod ne de ligno arboris uitae contingat arcetur, non de inuidiae maligno liuore descendit, sed ne uiuens in aeternum, nisi peccata Christus ante donasset, circumferret secum in poenam sui semper immortale delictum. Quamquam etiam superioribus, id est, super ipsum quoque solidamentum partibus, quae non sunt hodie nostris contemplabiles oculis, angelos prius instituerit, spiritales uirtutes digesserit, thronos potestatesque praefecerit, et alia multa caelorum immensa spatia et sacramentorum infinita opera condiderit, ut immensus hic licet mundus paene nouissimum magis dei corporalium rerum appareat opus esse, quam solum, namque quae infra terram iacent, neque ipsa sunt digestis et ordinatis potestatibus uacua. locus enim est quo piorum animae impiorumque ducuntur, futuri iudicii praeiudicia sentientes: ut operum ipsius in omnibus partibus redundantes magnitudines non intra mundi huius capacissimos licet, ut diximus, sinus conclusas uideremus, sed etiam infra ipsius mundi et profunda et altitudines cogitare possemus; et sic considerata operum magnitudine, tantae molis digne mirari possemus artificem.