Chapters
On the Sole Government of God
Chapters
More
Chapter 1: Author's Purpose.
HUMAN NATURE INITIALLY RECEIVED A COMBINATION OF INTELLIGENCE AND SAFETY TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH AND THE WORSHIP OWED TO THE ONE LORD OF ALL:
Yet envy, by suggesting the greatness of human achievements, led people to create idols. This superstitious practice, after persisting for a long time, is passed down to most people as if it were natural and true. It is the role of one who loves mankind, or rather one who loves God, to remind people, who have neglected it, of what they ought to know.
For the truth is in itself sufficient to reveal, through what is beneath the sky, the order established by Him who created them.
But forgetfulness has taken hold of human minds, and through God’s patience, people have rashly transferred to mortals the name meant for the only true God. And from the few, the spread of sin infected many, who were blinded by common customs to the understanding of what is lasting and unchangeable. The people of earlier generations, who established private and public ceremonies to honor those who were mightier, caused forgetfulness of the Catholic faith in their descendants.
But I, as I have just stated, along with a mind that loves God, will use the speech of one who loves humanity, and present it to those who have intelligence, which everyone should possess if they observe the universe's governance, so they might worship unchangeably Him who knows all things. I will do this not by mere display of words but by using evidence drawn from ancient Greek poetry and writings common to all. From these, the renowned men who made idol worship a law for the masses will be taught and proven by their own poets and literature to be greatly ignorant.