{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020134.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020134.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020134.htm","text":"And the Sibyl, who was a prophetess among the Greeks and the other nations, in the beginning of her prophecy, reproaches the race of men, saying:\u2014\np. 109\n \u201cHow are ye still so quickly lifted up,\nAnd how so thoughtless of the end of life,\nYe mortal men of flesh, who are but nought?\nDo ye not tremble, nor fear God most high?\nYour Overseer, the Knower, Seer of all,\nWho ever keeps those whom His hand first made,\nPuts His sweet Spirit into all His works,\nAnd gives Him for a guide to mortal men.\nThere is one only uncreated God,\nWho reigns alone, all-powerful, very great,\nFrom whom is nothing hid. He sees all things,\nHimself unseen by any mortal eye.\nCan mortal man see the immortal God,\nOr fleshly eyes, which shun the noontide beams,\nLook upon Him, who dwells beyond the heavens?\nWorship Him then, the self-existent God,\nThe unbegotten Ruler of the world,\nWho only was from everlasting time,\nAnd shall to everlasting still abide.\nOf evil counsels ye shall reap the fruit,\nBecause ye have not honoured the true God,\nNor offered to Him sacred hecatombs.\nTo those who dwell in Hades ye make gifts,\nAnd unto demons offer sacrifice.\nIn madness and in pride ye have your walk;\nAnd leaving the right way, ye wander wide,\nAnd lose yourselves in pitfalls and in thorns.\nWhy do ye wander thus, O foolish men?\nCease your vain wanderings in the black, dark night;\nWhy follow darkness and perpetual gloom\nWhen, see, there shines for you the blessed light?\nLo, He is clear\u2014in Him there is no spot.\nTurn, then, from darkness, and behold the day;\nBe wise, and treasure wisdom in your breasts.\nThere is one God who sends the winds and rains,\nThe earthquakes, and the lightnings, and the plagues,\nThe famines, and the snow-storms, and the ice,\nAnd all the woes that visit our sad race.\nNor these alone, but all things else He gives,\nRuling omnipotent in heaven and earth,\nAnd self-existent from eternity.\u201d\nAnd regarding those [gods] that are said to have been born, she said:\u2014\n \u201cIf all things that are born must also die,\n\u201cGod cannot be produced by mortal man.\nBut there is only One, the All-Supreme,\nWho made the heavens, with all their starry host,\nThe sun and moon; likewise the fruitful earth,\nWith all the waves of ocean, and the hills,\nThe fountains, and the ever flowing streams;\nHe also made the countless multitude\nOf ocean creatures, and He keeps alive\nAll creeping things, both of the earth and sea;\nAnd all the tuneful choir of birds He made,\nWhich cleave the air with wings, and with shrill pipe\nTrill forth at morn their tender, clear-voiced song.\nWithin the deep glades of the hills He placed\nA savage race of beasts; and unto men\nHe made all cattle subject, making man\nThe God-formed image, ruler over all,\nAnd putting in subjection to his sway\nThings many and incomprehensible.\nFor who of mortals can know all these things?\nHe only knows who made them at the first,\nHe the Creator, incorruptible,\nWho dwells in upper air eternally;\nWho proffers to the good most rich rewards,\nAnd against evil and unrighteous men\nRouses revenge, and wrath, and bloody wars,\nAnd pestilence, and many a tearful grief.\nO man exalted vainly\u2014say why thus\nHast thou so utterly destroyed thyself?\nHave ye no shame worshipping beasts for gods?\nAnd to believe the gods should steal your beasts,\nOr that they need your vessels\u2014is it not\nFrenzy\u2019s most profitless and foolish thought?\nInstead of dwelling in the golden heavens,\nYe see your gods become the prey of worms,\nAnd hosts of creatures noisome and unclean.\nO fools! ye worship serpents, dogs, and cats,\nBirds, and the creeping things of earth and sea,\nImages made with hands, statues of stone,\nAnd heaps of rubbish by the wayside placed.\nAll these, and many more vain things, ye serve,\nWorshipping things disgraceful even to name:\nThese are the gods who lead vain men astray,\nFrom whose mouth streams of deadly poison flow.\nBut unto Him in whom alone is life,\nLife, and undying, everlasting light;\nWho pours into man\u2019s cup of life a joy\nSweeter than sweetest honey to his taste,\u2014\nUnto Him bow the head, to Him alone,\nAnd walk in ways of everlasting peace.\nForsaking Him, ye all have turned aside,\nAnd, in your raving folly, drained the cup\nOf justice quite unmixed, pure, mastering, strong;\nAnd ye will not again be sober men,\nYe will not come unto a sober mind,\nAnd know your God and King, who looks on all:\nTherefore, upon you burning fire shall come,\nAnd ever ye shall daily burn in flames,\nAshamed for ever of your useless gods.\nBut those who worship the eternal God,\nThey shall inherit everlasting life,\nInhabiting the blooming realms of bliss,\nAnd feasting on sweet food from starry heaven.\u201d\nThat these things are true, and useful, and just, and profitable to all men, is obvious. Even the poets have spoken of the punishments of the wicked.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: THEOPHILUS: Chapter XXXVI.\u2014Prophecies of the Sibyl.","type":"page"}