He sends out his word, and melts them: he causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
Read Chapter 147
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
27. Thus then we see "the snow, the mist, the crystal:" it is good that He blow and thaw them. For if He blow not, if He Himself thaw not the hardness of this ice, "in the face of His cold who shall stand?" He abandoneth a sinner, behold, He calleth him not; behold, He openeth not his perception; behold, He poureth not in grace; let the man thaw himself, if he can, from the ice of folly. He cannot. Wherefore can he not? "In the face of His cold who shall stand?" Behold him then growing harder, and saying, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Behold, I am growing cold, behold, I am growing hard, what heat shall thaw me that I may run? "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?. ...In the face of His cold who shall stand?" And who shall free himself, if God abandon him? Who is it that freeth? "The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Are we then to despair? God forbid. For it goeth on, "He shall send out His Word, and melt them" (...
