4 Beginning of the Great Fast

Scripture called heaven and earth that formless matter of the universe, which was changed into formed and beautiful natures by God's ineffable command.… This heaven and earth, which were confused and mixed up, were suited to receive forms from God their maker.

1. It is right that any one beginning to narrate the formation of the world should begin with the good order which reigns in visible things. I am about to speak of the creation of heaven and earth, which was not spontaneous, as some have imagined, but drew its origin from God. What ear is worthy to hear such a tale? How earnestly the soul should prepare itself to receive such high lessons! How pure it should be from carnal affections, how unclouded by worldly disquietudes, how active and ardent in its researches, how eager to find in its surroundings an idea of God which may be worthy of Him! But before weighing the justice of these remarks, before examining all the sense contained in these few words, let us see who addresses them to us. Because, if the weakness of our intelligence does not allow us to penetrate the depth of the thoughts of the writer, yet we shall be involuntarily drawn to give faith to his words by the force of his authority. Now it is Moses who has composed this history; Moses, who, when still at the breast, is described as exceeding fair; Moses, whom the daughter of Pharaoh adopted; who received from her a royal education, and who had for his teachers the wise men of Egypt; Moses, who disdained the pomp of royalty, and, to share the humble condition of his compatriots, preferred to be persecuted with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting delights of sin; Moses, who received from nature such a love of justice that, even before the leadership of the people of God was committed to him, he was impelled, by a natural horror of evil, to pursue malefactors even to the point of punishing them by death; Moses, who, banished by those whose benefactor he had been, hastened to escape from the tumults of Egypt and took refuge in Ethiopia, living there far from former pursuits, and passing forty years in the contemplation of nature; Moses, finally, who, at the age of eighty, saw God, as far as it is possible for man to see Him; or rather as it had not previously been granted to man to see Him, according to the testimony of God Himself, If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house, with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches. It is this man, whom God judged worthy to behold Him, face to face, like the angels, who imparts to us what he has learned from God. Let us listen then to these words of truth written without the help of the enticing words of man's wisdom 1 Corinthians 2:4 by the dictation of the Holy Spirit; words destined to produce not the applause of those who hear them, but the salvation of those who are instructed by them. 2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1 I stop struck with admiration at this thought. What shall I first say? Where shall I begin my story? Shall I show forth the vanity of the Gentiles? Shall I exalt the truth of our faith? The philosophers of Greece have made much ado to explain nature, and not one of their systems has remained firm and unshaken, each being overturned by its successor. It is vain to refute them; they are sufficient in themselves to destroy one another. Those who were too ignorant to rise to a knowledge of a God, could not allow that an intelligent cause presided at the birth of the Universe; a primary error that involved them in sad consequences. Some had recourse to material principles and attributed the origin of the Universe to the elements of the world. Others imagined that atoms, and indivisible bodies, molecules and ducts, form, by their union, the nature of the visible world. Atoms reuniting or separating, produce births and deaths and the most durable bodies only owe their consistency to the strength of their mutual adhesion: a true spider's web woven by these writers who give to heaven, to earth, and to sea so weak an origin and so little consistency! It is because they knew not how to say In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that was all was given up to chance. To guard us against this error the writer on the creation, from the very first words, enlightens our understanding with the name of God; In the beginning God created. What a glorious order! He first establishes a beginning, so that it might not be supposed that the world never had a beginning. Then he adds Created to show that which was made was a very small part of the power of the Creator. In the same way that the potter, after having made with equal pains a great number of vessels, has not exhausted either his art or his talent; thus the Maker of the Universe, whose creative power, far from being bounded by one world, could extend to the infinite, needed only the impulse of His will to bring the immensities of the visible world into being. If then the world has a beginning, and if it has been created, enquire who gave it this beginning, and who was the Creator: or rather, in the fear that human reasonings may make you wander from the truth, Moses has anticipated enquiry by engraving in our hearts, as a seal and a safeguard, the awful name of God: In the beginning God created— It is He, beneficent Nature, Goodness without measure, a worthy object of love for all beings endowed with reason, the beauty the most to be desired, the origin of all that exists, the source of life, intellectual light, impenetrable wisdom, it is He who in the beginning created heaven and earth. 3. Do not then imagine, O man! That the visible world is without a beginning; and because the celestial bodies move in a circular course, and it is difficult for our senses to define the point where the circle begins, do not believe that bodies impelled by a circular movement are, from their nature, without a beginning. Without doubt the circle (I mean the plane figure described by a single line) is beyond our perception, and it is impossible for us to find out where it begins or where it ends; but we ought not on this account to believe it to be without a beginning. Although we are not sensible of it, it really begins at some point where the draughtsman has begun to draw it at a certain radius from the centre. Thus seeing that figures which move in a circle always return upon themselves, without for a single instant interrupting the regularity of their course, do not vainly imagine to yourselves that the world has neither beginning nor end. For the fashion of this world passes away 1 Corinthians 7:31 and Heaven and earth shall pass away. Matthew 24:35 The dogmas of the end, and of the renewing of the world, are announced beforehand in these short words put at the head of the inspired history. In the beginning God made. That which was begun in time is condemned to come to an end in time. If there has been a beginning do not doubt of the end. Of what use then are geometry— the calculations of arithmetic— the study of solids and far-famed astronomy, this laborious vanity, if those who pursue them imagine that this visible world is co-eternal with the Creator of all things, with God Himself; if they attribute to this limited world, which has a material body, the same glory as to the incomprehensible and invisible nature; if they cannot conceive that a whole, of which the parts are subject to corruption and change, must of necessity end by itself submitting to the fate of its parts? But they have become vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1:21-22 Some have affirmed that heaven co-exists with God from all eternity; others that it is God Himself without beginning or end, and the cause of the particular arrangement of all things. 4. One day, doubtless, their terrible condemnation will be the greater for all this worldly wisdom, since, seeing so clearly into vain sciences, they have wilfully shut their eyes to the knowledge of the truth. These men who measure the distances of the stars and describe them, both those of the North, always shining brilliantly in our view, and those of the southern pole visible to the inhabitants of the South, but unknown to us; who divide the Northern zone and the circle of the Zodiac into an infinity of parts, who observe with exactitude the course of the stars, their fixed places, their declensions, their return and the time that each takes to make its revolution; these men, I say, have discovered all except one thing: the fact that God is the Creator of the universe, and the just Judge who rewards all the actions of life according to their merit. They have not known how to raise themselves to the idea of the consummation of all things, the consequence of the doctrine of judgment, and to see that the world must change if souls pass from this life to a new life. In reality, as the nature of the present life presents an affinity to this world, so in the future life our souls will enjoy a lot conformable to their new condition. But they are so far from applying these truths, that they do but laugh when we announce to them the end of all things and the regeneration of the age. Since the beginning naturally precedes that which is derived from it, the writer, of necessity, when speaking to us of things which had their origin in time, puts at the head of his narrative these words— In the beginning God created. 5. It appears, indeed, that even before this world an order of things existed of which our mind can form an idea, but of which we can say nothing, because it is too lofty a subject for men who are but beginners and are still babes in knowledge. The birth of the world was preceded by a condition of things suitable for the exercise of supernatural powers, outstripping the limits of time, eternal and infinite. The Creator and Demiurge of the universe perfected His works in it, spiritual light for the happiness of all who love the Lord, intellectual and invisible natures, all the orderly arrangement of pure intelligences who are beyond the reach of our mind and of whom we cannot even discover the names. They fill the essence of this invisible world, as Paul teaches us. For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers Colossians 1:16 or virtues or hosts of angels or the dignities of archangels. To this world at last it was necessary to add a new world, both a school and training place where the souls of men should be taught and a home for beings destined to be born and to die. Thus was created, of a nature analogous to that of this world and the animals and plants which live thereon, the succession of time, for ever pressing on and passing away and never stopping in its course. Is not this the nature of time, where the past is no more, the future does not exist, and the present escapes before being recognised? And such also is the nature of the creature which lives in time,— condemned to grow or to perish without rest and without certain stability. It is therefore fit that the bodies of animals and plants, obliged to follow a sort of current, and carried away by the motion which leads them to birth or to death, should live in the midst of surroundings whose nature is in accord with beings subject to change. Thus the writer who wisely tells us of the birth of the Universe does not fail to put these words at the head of the narrative. In the beginning God created; that is to say, in the beginning of time. Therefore, if he makes the world appear in the beginning, it is not a proof that its birth has preceded that of all other things that were made. He only wishes to tell us that, after the invisible and intellectual world, the visible world, the world of the senses, began to exist. The first movement is called beginning. To do right is the beginning of the good way. Just actions are truly the first steps towards a happy life. Again, we call beginning the essential and first part from which a thing proceeds, such as the foundation of a house, the keel of a vessel; it is in this sense that it is said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs 9:10 that is to say that piety is, as it were, the groundwork and foundation of perfection. Art is also the beginning of the works of artists, the skill of Bezaleel began the adornment of the tabernacle. Often even the good which is the final cause is the beginning of actions. Thus the approbation of God is the beginning of almsgiving, and the end laid up for us in the promises the beginning of all virtuous efforts. 6. Such being the different senses of the word beginning, see if we have not all the meanings here. You may know the epoch when the formation of this world began, it, ascending into the past, you endeavour to discover the first day. You will thus find what was the first movement of time; then that the creation of the heavens and of the earth were like the foundation and the groundwork, and afterwards that an intelligent reason, as the word beginning indicates, presided in the order of visible things. You will finally discover that the world was not conceived by chance and without reason, but for an useful end and for the great advantage of all beings, since it is really the school where reasonable souls exercise themselves, the training ground where they learn to know God; since by the sight of visible and sensible things the mind is led, as by a hand, to the contemplation of invisible things. For, as the Apostle says, the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Romans 1:20 Perhaps these words In the beginning God created signify the rapid and imperceptible moment of creation. The beginning, in effect, is indivisible and instantaneous. The beginning of the road is not yet the road, and that of the house is not yet the house; so the beginning of time is not yet time and not even the least particle of it. If some objector tell us that the beginning is a time, he ought then, as he knows well, to submit it to the division of time— a beginning, a middle and an end. Now it is ridiculous to imagine a beginning of a beginning. Further, if we divide the beginning into two, we make two instead of one, or rather make several, we really make an infinity, for all that which is divided is divisible to the infinite. Thus then, if it is said, In the beginning God created, it is to teach us that at the will of God the world arose in less than an instant, and it is to convey this meaning more clearly that other interpreters have said: God made summarily that is to say all at once and in a moment. But enough concerning the beginning, if only to put a few points out of many. 7. Among arts, some have in view production, some practice, others theory. The object of the last is the exercise of thought, that of the second, the motion of the body. Should it cease, all stops; nothing more is to be seen. Thus dancing and music have nothing behind; they have no object but themselves. In creative arts on the contrary the work lasts after the operation. Such is architecture— such are the arts which work in wood and brass and weaving, all those indeed which, even when the artisan has disappeared, serve to show an industrious intelligence and to cause the architect, the worker in brass or the weaver, to be admired on account of his work. Thus, then, to show that the world is a work of art displayed for the beholding of all people; to make them know Him who created it, Moses does not use another word. In the beginning, he says God created. He does not say God worked, God formed, but God created. Among those who have imagined that the world co-existed with God from all eternity, many have denied that it was created by God, but say that it exists spontaneously, as the shadow of this power. God, they say, is the cause of it, but an involuntary cause, as the body is the cause of the shadow and the flame is the cause of the brightness. It is to correct this error that the prophet states, with so much precision, In the beginning God created. He did not make the thing itself the cause of its existence. Being good, He made it an useful work. Being wise, He made it everything that was most beautiful. Being powerful He made it very great. Moses almost shows us the finger of the supreme artisan taking possession of the substance of the universe, forming the different parts in one perfect accord, and making a harmonious symphony result from the whole. In the beginning God made heaven and earth. By naming the two extremes, he suggests the substance of the whole world, according to heaven the privilege of seniority, and putting earth in the second rank. All intermediate beings were created at the same time as the extremities. Thus, although there is no mention of the elements, fire, water and air, imagine that they were all compounded together, and you will find water, air and fire, in the earth. For fire leaps out from stones; iron which is dug from the earth produces under friction fire in plentiful measure. A marvellous fact! Fire shut up in bodies lurks there hidden without harming them, but no sooner is it released than it consumes that which has hitherto preserved it. The earth contains water, as diggers of wells teach us. It contains air too, as is shown by the vapours that it exhales under the sun's warmth when it is damp. Now, as according to their nature, heaven occupies the higher and earth the lower position in space, (one sees, in fact, that all which is light ascends towards heaven, and heavy substances fall to the ground); as therefore height and depth are the points the most opposed to each other it is enough to mention the most distant parts to signify the inclusion of all which fills up intervening Space. Do not ask, then, for an enumeration of all the elements; guess, from what Holy Scripture indicates, all that is passed over in silence. 8. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. If we were to wish to discover the essence of each of the beings which are offered for our contemplation, or come under our senses, we should be drawn away into long digressions, and the solution of the problem would require more words than I possess, to examine fully the matter. To spend time on such points would not prove to be to the edification of the Church. Upon the essence of the heavens we are contented with what Isaiah says, for, in simple language, he gives us sufficient idea of their nature, The heaven was made like smoke, that is to say, He created a subtle substance, without solidity or density, from which to form the heavens. As to the form of them we also content ourselves with the language of the same prophet, when praising God that stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in. In the same way, as concerns the earth, let us resolve not to torment ourselves by trying to find out its essence, not to tire our reason by seeking for the substance which it conceals. Do not let us seek for any nature devoid of qualities by the conditions of its existence, but let us know that all the phenomena with which we see it clothed regard the conditions of its existence and complete its essence. Try to take away by reason each of the qualities it possesses, and you will arrive at nothing. Take away black, cold, weight, density, the qualities which concern taste, in one word all these which we see in it, and the substance vanishes. If I ask you to leave these vain questions, I will not expect you to try and find out the earth's point of support. The mind would reel on beholding its reasonings losing themselves without end. Do you say that the earth reposes on a bed of air? How, then, can this soft substance, without consistency, resist the enormous weight which presses upon it? How is it that it does not slip away in all directions, to avoid the sinking weight, and to spread itself over the mass which overwhelms it? Do you suppose that water is the foundation of the earth? You will then always have to ask yourself how it is that so heavy and opaque a body does not pass through the water; how a mass of such a weight is held up by a nature weaker than itself. Then you must seek a base for the waters, and you will be in much difficulty to say upon what the water itself rests. 9. Do you suppose that a heavier body prevents the earth from falling into the abyss? Then you must consider that this support needs itself a support to prevent it from falling. Can we imagine one? Our reason again demands yet another support, and thus we shall fall into the infinite, always imagining a base for the base which we have already found. And the further we advance in this reasoning the greater force we are obliged to give to this base, so that it may be able to support all the mass weighing upon it. Put then a limit to your thought, so that your curiosity in investigating the incomprehensible may not incur the reproaches of Job, and you be not asked by him, Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Job 38:6 If ever you hear in the Psalms, I bear up the pillars of it; see in these pillars the power which sustains it. Because what means this other passage, He has founded it upon the sea, if not that the water is spread all around the earth? How then can water, the fluid element which flows down every declivity, remain suspended without ever flowing? You do not reflect that the idea of the earth suspended by itself throws your reason into a like but even greater difficulty, since from its nature it is heavier. But let us admit that the earth rests upon itself, or let us say that it rides the waters, we must still remain faithful to thought of true religion and recognise that all is sustained by the Creator's power. Let us then reply to ourselves, and let us reply to those who ask us upon what support this enormous mass rests, In His hands are the ends of the earth. It is a doctrine as infallible for our own information as profitable for our hearers. 10. There are inquirers into nature who with a great display of words give reasons for the immobility of the earth. Placed, they say, in the middle of the universe and not being able to incline more to one side than the other because its centre is everywhere the same distance from the surface, it necessarily rests upon itself; since a weight which is everywhere equal cannot lean to either side. It is not, they go on, without reason or by chance that the earth occupies the centre of the universe. It is its natural and necessary position. As the celestial body occupies the higher extremity of space all heavy bodies, they argue, that we may suppose to have fallen from these high regions, will be carried from all directions to the centre, and the point towards which the parts are tending will evidently be the one to which the whole mass will be thrust together. If stones, wood, all terrestrial bodies, fall from above downwards, this must be the proper and natural place of the whole earth. If, on the contrary, a light body is separated from the centre, it is evident that it will ascend towards the higher regions. Thus heavy bodies move from the top to the bottom, and following this reasoning, the bottom is none other than the centre of the world. Do not then be surprised that the world never falls: it occupies the centre of the universe, its natural place. By necessity it is obliged to remain in its place, unless a movement contrary to nature should displace it. If there is anything in this system which might appear probable to you, keep your admiration for the source of such perfect order, for the wisdom of God. Grand phenomena do not strike us the less when we have discovered something of their wonderful mechanism. Is it otherwise here? At all events let us prefer the simplicity of faith to the demonstrations of reason. 11. We might say the same thing of the heavens. With what a noise of words the sages of this world have discussed their nature! Some have said that heaven is composed of four elements as being tangible and visible, and is made up of earth on account of its power of resistance, with fire because it is striking to the eye, with air and water on account of the mixture. Others have rejected this system as improbable, and introduced into the world, to form the heavens, a fifth element after their own fashioning. There exists, they say, an æthereal body which is neither fire, air, earth, nor water, nor in one word any simple body. These simple bodies have their own natural motion in a straight line, light bodies upwards and heavy bodies downwards; now this motion upwards and downwards is not the same as circular motion; there is the greatest possible difference between straight and circular motion. It therefore follows that bodies whose motion is so various must vary also in their essence. But, it is not even possible to suppose that the heavens should be formed of primitive bodies which we call elements, because the reunion of contrary forces could not produce an even and spontaneous motion, when each of the simple bodies is receiving a different impulse from nature. Thus it is a labour to maintain composite bodies in continual movement, because it is impossible to put even a single one of their movements in accord and harmony with all those that are in discord; since what is proper to the light particle, is in warfare with that of a heavier one. If we attempt to rise we are stopped by the weight of the terrestrial element; if we throw ourselves down we violate the igneous part of our being in dragging it down contrary to its nature. Now this struggle of the elements effects their dissolution. A body to which violence is done and which is placed in opposition to nature, after a short but energetic resistance, is soon dissolved into as many parts as it had elements, each of the constituent parts returning to its natural place. It is the force of these reasons, say the inventors of the fifth kind of body for the genesis of heaven and the stars, which constrained them to reject the system of their predecessors and to have recourse to their own hypothesis. But yet another fine speaker arises and disperses and destroys this theory to give predominance to an idea of his own invention. Do not let us undertake to follow them for fear of falling into like frivolities; let them refute each other, and, without disquieting ourselves about essence, let us say with Moses God created the heavens and the earth. Let us glorify the supreme Artificer for all that was wisely and skillfully made; by the beauty of visible things let us raise ourselves to Him who is above all beauty; by the grandeur of bodies, sensible and limited in their nature, let us conceive of the infinite Being whose immensity and omnipotence surpass all the efforts of the imagination. Because, although we ignore the nature of created things, the objects which on all sides attract our notice are so marvellous, that the most penetrating mind cannot attain to the knowledge of the least of the phenomena of the world, either to give a suitable explanation of it or to render due praise to the Creator, to Whom belong all glory, all honour and all power world without end. Amen.

[The Manichaeans assert that] the form of the world is due to the wisdom of the supreme Artificer; matter came to the Creator from without; and thus the world results from a double origin. It has received from outside its matter and its essence and from God its form and figure. They thus come to deny that the mighty God has presided at the formation of the universe and pretend that he has only brought a crowning contribution to a common work, that he has only contributed some small portion to the genesis of beings. They are incapable from the debasement of their reasoning of raising their glances to the height of truth. Here below arts are subsequent to matter—introduced into life by the indispensable need of them. Wool existed before weaving made it supply one of nature's imperfections. Wood existed before carpentering took possession of it and transformed it each day to supply new wants and made us see all the advantages derived from it, giving the oar to the sailor, the winnowing fan to the laborer, the lance to the soldier. But God, before all those things that now attract our notice existed, after casting about in his mind and determining to bring into being time which had no being, imagined the world such as it ought to be and created matter in harmony with the form that he wished to give it. He assigned to the heavens the nature adapted for the heavens and gave to the earth an essence in accordance with its form. He formed, as he wished, fire, air and water, and gave to each the essence that the object of its existence required. Finally, he welded all the diverse parts of the universe by links of indissoluble attachment and established between them so perfect a fellowship and harmony that the most distant, in spite of their distance, appeared united in one universal sympathy. Let those men therefore renounce their fabulous imaginations, who, in spite of the weakness of their argument, pretend to measure a power as incomprehensible to man's reason as it is unutterable by man's voice. God created the heavens and the earth, but not only half—he created all the heavens and all the earth, creating the essence with the form.

It appears, indeed, that even before this world an order of things existed of which our mind can form an idea but of which we can say nothing, because it is too lofty a subject for men who are but beginners and are still babes in knowledge. The birth of the world was preceded by a condition of things suitable for the exercise of supernatural powers, outstripping the limits of time, eternal and infinite. The Creator and Demiurge of the universe perfected his works in it, spiritual light for the happiness of all who love the Lord, intellectual and invisible natures, all the orderly arrangement of pure intelligences who are beyond the reach of our mind and of whom we cannot even discover the names. They fill the essence of this invisible world, as Paul teaches us. "For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" or virtues or hosts of angels or the dignities of archangels. To this world at last it was necessary to add a new world, both a school and training place where the souls of men should be taught and a home for beings destined to be born and to die. Thus was created, of a nature analogous to that of this world and the animals and plants which live on it, the succession of time, forever pressing on and passing away and never stopping in its course. Is not this the nature of time, where the past is no more, the future does not exist, and the present escapes before being recognized? And such also is the nature of the creature that lives in time—condemned to grow or to perish without rest and without certain stability. It is therefore fit that the bodies of animals and plants, obliged to follow a sort of current and carried away by the motion that leads them to birth or to death, should live in the midst of surroundings whose nature is in accord with beings subject to change. Thus the writer who wisely tells us of the birth of the universe does not fail to put these words at the head of the narrative. "In the beginning God created"; that is to say, in the beginning of time. Therefore, if he makes the world appear in the beginning, it is not a proof that its birth has preceded that of all other things that were made. He only wishes to tell us that, after the invisible and intellectual world, the visible world, the world of the senses, began to exist.

We are proposing to examine the structure of the world and to contemplate the whole universe, not from the wisdom of the world but from what God taught his servant when he spoke to him in person and without riddles.

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. By introducing the creation of the world, the divine Scripture aptly and immediately demonstrates the eternity and omnipotence of God the Creator. Indeed, by stating that He created the world at the beginning of time, it designates that He existed eternally before time. And by narrating that He created heaven and earth at the very beginning of creation, it declares that He is omnipotent in such a swift act of operation, to whom wanting is doing. For human frailty, when it operates; for example, when we build a house, we first prepare the material at the beginning of the work, and after this beginning, we dig deep, then lay stones in the foundation, then build walls by adding rows of stones, and thus gradually progressing, we reach the perfection of the intended work. But God, whose hand is omnipotent to execute His work, did not need the delay of time, because it is written: "He has made all that He desired" (Psalm 113:3). Hence, it was well-pleasing, because in the beginning, God created heaven and earth, to be clearly understood that both were made by God simultaneously, although both cannot be said by man at the same time. Finally, the prophet says: "In the beginning, you have laid the foundation of the earth, Lord" (Psalm 102:26). However, here it is narrated that the Lord created heaven and earth in the beginning; from which it is clearly inferred that the creation of both elements was accomplished together, and this with such speed of divine power that not even the first moment of the nascent world was surpassed. However, it may not improbably be understood that in the beginning, God made heaven and earth in His Only Begotten Son, who, when asked by the Jews what they should believe about Him, replied: "The beginning, who is speaking to you" (John 8:25). Because in Him, as the Apostle says (Colossians 1:16), all things were created in heaven and on earth. But it must be carefully considered, so that whoever devotes attention to allegorical senses may not, by allegorizing, forsake the evident truth of history. But what and of what nature the heaven was, which was made in the beginning along with the earth, is hinted at in the following words when it is said:

Corporeal nature was brought into being in six days, such that in the beginning, before every day, "God created heaven and earth." Since things flow from the first and most perfect principle, and such a principle is most omnipotent, most wise, and most benevolent: therefore it was necessary that they be brought into being in such a way that in their production the aforesaid threefold nobility and excellence would shine forth. And therefore the divine operation for producing the world-machine was threefold, namely creation, which is appropriately attributed to omnipotence; distinction, which corresponds to wisdom, and adornment, which corresponds to the most generous goodness. And since creation is from nothing, therefore it was in the beginning, before every day, as the foundation of all things and all times.

To intimate the order of nature, Scripture determines, according to what was fitting for God to work: that in the beginning, before the course of time, that threefold nature was brought from non-being into being, when it says: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth" and "the Spirit of God moved over the waters." Where by the name of heaven the luminous nature is intimated; by the name of earth, the opaque; by the name of water, the pervious or transparent, whether subject to contrariety or elevated above contrariety. Where also the eternal Trinity is intimated, namely the Father in the name of God creating, the Son in the name of the beginning, the Holy Spirit in the name of the Spirit of God. And thus is to be understood that which is said: "He who lives forever created all things simultaneously": not because He created them in a chaos of every kind of confusion, as the poets imagined, since He brought forth this threefold nature, the highest in the highest place, the middle in the middle, and the lowest in the lowest: nor indeed into a being of every kind of distinction, since heaven was perfect, and the earth unformed, and the middle nature, as it were holding a middle position, had not yet been brought to perfect distinction.

Three errors are to be guarded against in the sciences, which destroy sacred Scripture and the Christian faith and all wisdom. The error against the cause of being concerns the eternity of the world, namely to posit that the world is eternal. This first error is refuted by what is written: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." For you hold that God is the cause of all things either in part or in whole. If in part: then you take away from God his primacy of causing. If in whole: then God is the cause of every other thing; therefore he produces it not from himself, not from something else, because nothing else exists; therefore from nothing. Likewise, it follows according to this error that a thing had being and non-being simultaneously, and that being was before non-being; and many other absurdities. Whence it is certain that God created all things.

It is manifest that a beginning should be made from the One from whom the two greatest Wise Men began: Moses, the originator of wisdom, and John, its consummator. The former said: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and, in Augustine's opinion, this means the Son. And John said: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him." If, therefore, it is impossible to understand a creature except through that by which it was made, it is necessary that the true Word go before thee.

These, then, are the mysteries concerned with the Tree of Life, that is, Holy Scripture, because it begins with eternity and ends in the direction of eternity. Hence, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"; and at the end, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth." These are the forty-eight boards of the dwelling — twenty on one side, and twenty on the other, and eight in the back — within which is placed the Ark, that is, Christ, containing in Himself "all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge," upon whom the Cherubim gaze.

In one respect, as many Christians have noticed, contemporary science has recently come into line with Christian doctrine, and parted company with the classical forms of materialism. If anything emerges clearly from modern physics, it is that nature is not everlasting. The universe had a beginning, and will have an end. But the great materialistic systems of the past all believed in the eternity, and thence in the self-existence of matter. As Professor Whittaker said in the Riddell Lectures of 1942, "It was never possible to oppose seriously the dogma of the Creation except by maintaining that the world has existed from all eternity in more or less its present state." This fundamental ground for materialism has now been withdrawn. We should not lean too heavily on this, for scientific theories change. But at the moment it appears that the burden of proof rests, not on us, but on those who deny that Nature has some cause beyond herself.

[Distinguishing the Christian doctrine of creation from Pantheism — God is not identical with the universe but its Maker, as a painter is not his picture]

The Christian idea is quite different. They think God invented and made the universe—like a man making a picture or composing a tune. A painter is not a picture, and he does not die if his picture is destroyed. You may say, 'He's put a lot of himself into it,' but you only mean that all its beauty and interest has come out of his head. His skill is not in the picture in the same way that it is in his head, or even in his hands.

For the first time in my life I began to look at the question with both eyes open. In the world I know, the perfect produces the imperfect, which again becomes perfect — egg leads to bird and bird to egg — in endless succession. If there ever was a life which sprang of its own accord out of a purely inorganic universe, or a civilization which raised itself by its own shoulder-straps out of pure savagery, then this event was totally unlike the beginnings of every subsequent life and every subsequent civilization. The thing may have happened; but all its plausibility is gone. On any view, the first beginning must have been outside the ordinary processes of nature. An egg which came from no bird is no more 'natural' than a bird which had existed from all eternity. And since the egg-bird-egg sequence leads us to no plausible beginning, is it not reasonable to look for the real origin somewhere outside sequence altogether? You have to go outside the sequence of engines, into the world of men, to find the real originator of the Rocket. Is it not equally reasonable to look outside Nature for the real Originator of the natural order?

Evidently, then, something beyond Nature exists. Man is on the border line between the Natural and the Supernatural. Material events cannot produce spiritual activity, but the latter can be responsible for many of our actions on Nature. Will and Reason cannot depend on anything but themselves, but Nature can depend on Will and Reason, or, in other words, God created Nature.

I won't admit without a struggle that when I speak of God "uttering" or "inventing" the creatures I am "watering down the concept of creation." I am trying to give it, by remote analogies, some sort of content. I know that to create is defined as "to make out of nothing," ex nihilo. But I take that to mean "not out of any pre-existing material." It can't mean that God makes what God has not thought of, or that He gives His creatures any powers or beauties which He Himself does not possess. Why, we think that even human work comes nearest to creation when the maker has "got it all out of his own head."

Nor am I suggesting a theory of "emanations". The differentia of an "emanation"—literally an overflowing, a trickling out—would be that it suggests something involuntary. But my words—"uttering" and "inventing"—are meant to suggest an act.

This act, as it is for God, must always remain totally inconceivable to man. For we—even our poets and musicians and inventors—never, in the ultimate sense, make. We only build. We always have materials to build from. All we can know about the act of creation must be derived from what we can gather about the relation of the creatures to their Creator.

Two and twenty works, O lover of the good and the beautiful, did God make from the beginning until the seventh day, namely these. On the first day He made the higher heaven, the earth, the waters from which come snow, ice, hail, frost and dew; then the spirits which minister before His face, such as these—the angels standing in His presence, the angels of glory, the angels of the clouds and darkness and snows and hail and frost—the angels of sounds, of thunder and lightning; the angels of cold and heat, of winter and autumn, and the angels of all the spirits of His creatures which arc in heaven and upon earth and in Chaos; then the darkness and the brooding over the abyss, the waters which once covered the earth, out of which darkness comes evening and night, the light of day and of the dawn. These seven mighty works did God make on the first day. On the second day was made the firmament which is in the midst of the waters. On the same day the waters were divided, one half of which ascended above the firmament, while the other half was underneath the firmament, upon the face of all the earth. This was the only work which God made on the second day.

For on the first day He made the matter out of which things were created; but on the other days He gave their form and arrangement to the things created. For example, He made the heaven which was before non-existent—not this visible heaven, but the one above it, for the visible was made on the second day. God made the higher heaven—the heaven of heavens to the Lord, and it is higher than this visible heaven, and, as in a house of two stories, between it and the earth another heaven is interposed. God having thus created the world as one house, placed this visible heaven as a roof in the middle, and the waters above it. Wherefore, David says: Who covereth his upper chambers with waters. God then made the heaven when it was not, the earth when it was not, the abysses when they were not, and wind, air, fire, water; of all the things that came into existence He made their matter on the first day.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," [ Gen 1:1 ] that is, the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth. So let no one think that there is anything interpretive (turgama) in the works of the six days. No one can rightly say that the things that pertain to these days were symbolic, nor can one say that they were meaningless names or that other things were symbolized for us by their names. Rather, let us know that just as heaven and earth were created in the beginning, so they were truly heaven and earth. There was no other thing signified by the names "heaven" and "earth". The rest of the works and things made that followed were not meaningless significations either, for the substances of their natures correspond to what their names signify.

"In the beginning God created heaven and earth." [ Gen1:1 ] At this point these comprised the only things that had been made, for there was nothing else created along with heaven and earth. Even the elements that were created on that day had not yet been created. If the elements had been created along with heaven and earth, Moses would have said so. But he did not, lest he give the names of the elements precedence over their substances. Therefore it is evident that heaven and earth came to be from nothing because neither water nor wind had yet been created, nor had fire, light or darkness been given their natures, for they were posterior to heaven and earth. These things were created things that came after heaven and earth and they were not self-subsistent beings for they did not exist before [ heaven and earth ].

Nobody can imagine how nothing could turn into something. Nobody can get an inch nearer to it by explaining how something could turn into something else. It is really far more logical to start by saying 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth' even if you only mean 'In the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.' For God is by its nature a name of mystery, and nobody ever supposed that man could imagine how a world was created any more than he could create one.

And the root phrase for all Christian theism was this, that God was a creator, as an artist is a creator. A poet is so separate from his poem that he himself speaks of it as a little thing he has "thrown off." Even in giving it forth he has flung it away. This principle that all creation and procreation is a breaking off is at least as consistent through the cosmos as the evolutionary principle that all growth is a branching out. A woman loses a child even in having a child. All creation is separation. Birth is as solemn a parting as death.

It was the prime philosophic principle of Christianity that this divorce in the divine act of making (such as severs the poet from the poem or the mother from the new-born child) was the true description of the act whereby the absolute energy made the world. According to most philosophers, God in making the world enslaved it. According to Christianity, in making it, He set it free. God had written, not so much a poem, but rather a play; a play he had planned as perfect, but which had necessarily been left to human actors and stage-managers, who had since made a great mess of it.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. This is a transcript of the excellent law. But before beginning to give the transcript of the book of the law, it will be worth while to instruct you, O brother, as to its excellence, and the dignity of its disposition. Its first excellence is, that God delivered it by the hand of our most blessed ruler, the chief of the prophets, and first of the apostles, or those who were sent to the children of Israel, viz. Moses the son of Amram, the son of Kohath, of the sons of Levi. Now he was adorned with all manner of wisdom, and endowed with the best genius. Illustrious in dignity, remarkable for the integrity of his disposition, distinguished for power of reason, he talked with God. And He chose him as an instrument of value. By His leader and prophet, God Most High sent it clown to us, and committed it to us (blessed be His name) in the Syriac tongue of the Targum, which the Seventy translated into the Hebrew tongue, to wit, into the tongue of the nation, and the idiom of the common people. Moses. therefore, received it from the eternal Lord, and was the first to whom it was entrusted, and who obeyed its rules and ordinances. Then he taught it to the children of Israel, who also embraced it. And he explained to them its profound mysteries and dark places. And he expounded to them those things which were less easy, as God permitted him, and concealed from them those secrets of the law, as God forbade him (to reveal them). Nor did there rise among them one who was better practised in His judgments and decrees, and who communicated more clearly the mysteries of His doctrine, until God translated him to Himself, after He had made him perfect by forty whole years in the wilderness.

And these following are the names of the teachers who handed down the law in continuous succession after Moses the prophet, until the advent of Messiah:-

Know, then, my brother, whom may God bless, that God delivered the most excellent law into the hands of Moses the prophet, the son of Amram.

And Moses delivered it to Joshua the son of Nun.

And Joshua the son of Nun delivered it Anathal.

And Anathal delivered it to Jehud.

And Jehud delivered it to Samgar.

And Samgar delivered it to Baruk.

And Baruk delivered it to Gideon.

And Gideon delivered it to Abimelech.

And Abimelech delivered it to Taleg.

And Taleg delivered it to Babin the Gileadite.

And Babin delivered it to Jiphtach.

And Jiphtach delivered it to Ephran.

And Ephran delivered it to Elul of the tribe Zebulon.

And Elul delivered it to Abdan.

And Abdan delivered it to Shimshon the brave.

And Shimshon delivered it to Helkanah, the son of Jerachmu, the son of Jehud. Moreover, he was the father of Samuel the prophet. Of this Helkanah mention is made in the beginning of the first book of Kings (Samuel).

And Helkanah delivered it to Eli the priest. And Eli delivered it to Samuel the prophet.

And Samuel delivered it to Nathan the prophet.

And Nathan delivered it to Gad the prophet.

And Gad the prophet delivered it to Shemaiah the teacher. And Shemaiah delivered it to Iddo the teacher. And Iddo delivered it to Achia.

And Achia delivered it to Abihu.

And Abihu delivered it to Elias the prophet.

And Elias delivered it to his disciple Elisaeus.

And Elisaeus delivered it to Malachia the prophet.

And Malachia delivered it to Abdiahu.

And Abdiahu delivered it to Jehuda.

And Jehuda delivered it to Zacharias the teacher. In those days came Bachthansar king of Babel, and laid waste the house of the sanctuary, and carried the children of Israel into captivity to Babel.

And after the captivity of Babel, Zacharia the teacher delivered it to Esaia the prophet, the son of Amos.

And Esaia delivered it to Jeremia the prophet.

And Jeremia the prophet delivered it to Chizkiel.

And Chizkiel the prophet delivered it to Hosea the prophet, the son of Bazi.

And Hosea delivered it to Joiel the prophet.

And Joiel delivered it to Amos the prophet.

And Amos delivered it to Obadia.

And Obadia delivered it to Jonan the prophet, the son of Mathi, the son of Armelah, who was the brother of Elias the prophet.

And Jonan delivered it to Micha the Morasthite, who delivered it to Nachum the Alcusite. And Nachum delivered it to Chabakuk the prophet.

And Chabakuk delivered it to Sophonia the prophet.

And Sophonia delivered it to Chaggaeus the prophet.

And Chaggaeus delivered it to Zecharia the prophet, the son of Bershia.

And Zecharia, when in captivity, delivered it to Malachia. And Malachia delivered it to Ezra the teacher.

And Ezra delivered it to Shamai the chief priest, and Jadua to Samean, (and) Samean delivered it to Antigonus.

And Antigonus delivered it to Joseph the son of Johezer, (and) Joseph the son of Gjuchanan.

And Joseph delivered it to Jehosua, the son of Barachia.

And Jehosua delivered it to Nathan the Arbelite.

And Nathan delivered it to Shimeon, the elder son of Shebach. This is he who carried the Messias in his arms.

Simeon delivered it to Jehuda.

Jehuda delivered it to Zecharia the priest.

And Zecharia the priest, the father of John the Baptist, delivered it to Joseph, a teacher of his own tribe.

And Joseph delivered it to Hanan and Caiaphas. Moreover, from them were taken away the priestly, and kingly, and prophetic offices.

These were teachers at the advent of Messias; and they were both priests of the children of Israel. Therefore the whole number of venerable and honourable priests put in trust of this most excellent law was fifty-six, Hanan (i.e., Annas) and Caiaphas being excepted.

And those are they who delivered it in the last days to the state of the children of Israel; nor did there arise any priests after them.

This is the account of what took place with regard to the most excellent law.

Armius, author of the book of Times, has said: In the nineteenth year of the reign of King Ptolemy, He ordered the elders of the children of Israel to be assembled, in order that they might put into his hands a copy of the law, and that they might each be at hand to explain its meaning.

The elders accordingly came, bringing with them the most excellent law. Then be commanded that every one of them should interpret the book of the law to him.

But he dissented from the interpretation which the elders had given. And he ordered the elders to be thrust into prison and chains. And seizing the book of the law, he threw it into a deep ditch, and cast fire and hot ashes upon it for seven days. Then afterwards he ordered them to throw the filth of the city into that ditch in which was the book of the law. And the ditch was filled to the very top.

The law remained seventy years under the filth in that ditch, yet did not perish, nor was there even a single leaf of it spoilt.

In the twenty-first year of the reign of King Apianutus they took the book of the law out of the ditch, and not one leaf thereof was spoilt.

And after the ascension of Christ into heaven, came King Titus, son of Aspasianus king of Rome, to Jerusalem, and besieged and took it. And he destroyed the edifice of the second house, which the children of Israel had built. Titus the king destroyed the house of the sanctuary, and slew all the Jews who were in it, and built Tsion (sic) in their blood. And after that deportation the Jews were scattered abroad in slavery. Nor did they assemble any more in the city of Jerusalem, nor is there hope anywhere of their returning.

After Jerusalem was laid waste, therefore, Shemaia and Antalia (Abtalion) delivered the law,-kings of Baalbach, a city which Soliman, son of King David, had built of old, and which was restored anew in the days of King Menasse, who sawed Esaia the prophet asunder.

King Adrian, of the children of Edom, besieged Baalbach, and took it, and slew all the Jews who were in it, (and) as many as were of the family of David he reduced to slavery. And the Jews were dispersed over the whole earth, as God Most High had foretold: "And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and disperse you among the nations."

And these are the things which have reached us as to the history of that most excellent book. The Preface is ended.

And the blessed prophet, indeed, the great Moses, wrote this book, and designated and marked it with the title, The Book of Being, i.e., "of created beings," etc.

I have received the desired letters of my Desiderius, who in a foretelling of things to happen has obtained with Daniel a certain name [see Vulgate Daniel 9.23: quia vir desideriorum es tu, "for you are a man of desires"], beseeching that I might hand over to our hearers a translation of the Pentateuch in the Latin tongue from the Hebrew words. Certainly a dangerous work, open to the barkings of detractors, who accuse me of insult to the Seventy to prepare a new interpretation from the old ones, thus approving ability (or "genius") like wine. As has very often been testified by me, I, for my part, am able to offer a portion in the Tabernacle of God, without the riches (or "abilities") of one being damaged by the poverties of others. But that I may have dared, the effort of Origen provoked me, who mixed the translation of Theodotion to the ancient edition, with asterisk and obelus, that is, star and spit, a work distinguishing everything, while he either makes to shine those things which were previously lacking, or he slays and pierces through everything superfluous. And especially by the authority of the Evangelists and the Apostles, in which we read many things from the Old Testament which are not found in our books, as it is (with): "Out of Egypt I have called My Son," and "For He shall be called a Nazarene," and "They will look on Him Whom they have pierced," and "Rivers of living waters shall flow from his belly," and "Things which no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has arisen in the heart of man, which God has prepared for those loving Him," and many others which are desiring a proper context (or "book" [Jerome uses a Greek word here: συνταγμα]). Therefore let us ask them where these are written, and when they are unable to say, we may produce them from the Hebrew books. The first witness is in Hosea, the second in Isaiah, the third in Zechariah, the fourth in Proverbs, the fifth is also in Isaiah, of which many are ignorant, the follies of apocrypha being followed, preferring Iberian dirges to authentic books. The cause of the error is not for me to explain. The Jews say it was done wisely in deliberation, so Ptolemy, the worshipper of one god, might not yet discover a double divinity with the Hebrews; he made them (do so) chiefly for this reason, because he was seen to fall into the dogma of Plato. Accordingly, wherever anything sacred in Scripture is witnessed of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, they are either translated otherwise, or they have passed over all in silence, so they might both satisfy the king, and might not divulge the secret of the Faith. And I don't know who was the first author to construct with his lying the seventy cells in Alexandria, into which were divided those who wrote, with Aristeas the champion [another Greek word: υπερασπιστης] of the same Ptolemy, and many after the time of Josephus having reported no such thing, but rather (for them) to have gathered in groups, writing in one basilica, (and) not to have prophesied. For it is one thing to be a seer, another to be an interpreter. In that one the Spirit predicts things to come; in this one by his learning and abundance of words he translates those things he has understood. Unless Tullius (Cicero) is understood to have translated, by inspiration of the spirit of rhetoric, the Economics of Xenophon, the Protagoras of Plato, and the For Ctesiphon by Demosthenes. Or the Holy Spirit wove together the witnesses of these books one way through the Seventy interpreters and another way through the Apostles, so that what they passed over in silence, what was written by these was invented [? - obscure]. Therefore, what? We condemn the ancients? By no means! But after those earlier in the House of God, we work at what we can. They are interpreted before the coming of Christ and what they didn't know, they tranlated in ambiguous (or "uncertain") sentences. We write after His Passion and Resurrection, not so much prophecy as history. For in the one are told what things were heard, in the other what were seen. What we understand better, we also translate better. Hear, therefore, O rival; listen, O detractor! I do not condemn, I do not censure the Seventy, but I confidently prefer the Apostles to all of them. Christ speaks to me through their mouth, who I read were placed before the prophets among the Spiritual gifts, among which interpreters hold almost the last place. Why are you tortured by spite? Why do you incite ignorant souls against me? If anywhere in the translation I have been seen by you to err, ask the Hebrews. Consult the teachers of the many different cities. What theirs have of Christ, yours do not have. It is another matter if they have afterward removed the testimonies used by the Apostles against them, and the Latin copies are more correct than the Greek, (and) the Greek than the Hebrew! Truth is against these enviers. Now I pray you, dearest Desiderius, so that in such a great work which you have made me undertake and take up a beginning from Genesis, you might help in (your) prayers, how I might, by the same Spirit by Whom the books were written, be able to translate them into Latin words.

Chapter 1, Verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Many people believe, as it is also written in the Altercation of Jason and Papiscus, and Tertullian in his book against Praxeas argues: and also Hilary in the exposition of a certain Psalm affirms, that it is found in Hebrew: 'In the son, God created the heavens and the earth', which is false, as the truth of the matter itself proves. For even the Seventy Interpreters, and Symmachus, and Theodotion translated it as 'In the beginning'. And it is written in Hebrew, Bresith (); which Aquila interprets, in the chapter: and not Baben (), which is called ((Al. interpreted)), in the son. Therefore, it can be understood more according to the meaning than according to the literal translation about Christ: who is approved both in the very beginning of Genesis, which is the head of all books, and also in the beginning of the Gospel of John, as the creator of heaven and earth. Hence, in the Psalms (Psalm 39:9), he says about himself: In the chapter ((Al. chapter)) of the book it is written about me, that is, in the beginning of Genesis. And in the Gospel: All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made (John 1:3). But it should also be known that among the Hebrews this book is called B'reishit: having the custom of giving names to their volumes from their beginnings.

Notice this remarkable author, dearly beloved, and the particular gift he had. I mean, while all the other inspired authors told either what would happen after a long time or what was going to take place immediately, this blessed author, being born many generations after the event, was guided by the deity on high and judged worthy to narrate what had been created by the Lord of all from the very beginning. Accordingly he began with these words: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." He well nigh bellows at us all and says, "Is it by human beings I am taught in uttering these things? It is the one who brought being from nothing who stirred my tongue in narrating them." Since we therefore listen to these words not as the words of Moses but as the words of the God of all things coming to us through the tongue of Moses, so I beg you, let us heed what is said as distinguished from our own reasoning.

Let us accept what is said with much gratitude, not overstepping the proper limit nor busying ourselves with matters beyond us. This is the besetting weakness of enemies of the truth, wishing as they do to assign every matter to their own reasoning and lacking the realization that it is beyond the capacity of human nature to plumb God's creation.

Why does it proceed, first heaven then earth? The temple's roof made before its pavement? God is not subject to nature's demands nor to the rules of technique. God is the creator and master technician of nature, and art, and everything made or imagined.

Even if it is granted that the God of all things followed an order [in the creation], he is shown to be God and Creator and to have brought all things into being out of nothing.

What is the beginning of all things except our Lord and "Savior of all," Jesus Christ "the firstborn of every creature?" In this beginning, therefore, that is, in his Word, "God made heaven and earth" as the evangelist John also says in the beginning of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made."

Scripture is not speaking here of any temporal beginning, but it says that the heavens and the earth and all things that were made were made "in the beginning," that is, in the Savior.

VII. (26) Moses says also; "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth:" taking the beginning to be, not as some men think, that which is according to time; for before the world time had no existence, but was created either simultaneously with it, or after it; for since time is the interval of the motion of the heavens, there could not have been any such thing as motion before there was anything which could be moved; but it follows of necessity that it received existence subsequently or simultaneously. It therefore follows also of necessity, that time was created either at the same moment with the world, or later than it--and to venture to assert that it is older than the world is absolutely inconsistent with philosophy. (27) But if the beginning spoken of by Moses is not to be looked upon as spoken of according to time, then it may be natural to suppose that it is the beginning according to number that is indicated; so that, "In the beginning he created," is equivalent to "first of all he created the heaven;" for it is natural in reality that that should have been the first object created, being both the best of all created things, and being also made of the purest substance, because it was destined to be the most holy abode of the visible Gods who are perceptible by the external senses; (28) for if the Creator had made everything at the same moment, still those things which were created in beauty would no less have had a regular arrangement, for there is no such thing as beauty in disorder. But order is a due consequence and connection of things precedent and subsequent, if not in the completion of a work, at all events in the intention of the maker; for it is owing to order that they become accurately defined and stationary, and free from confusion.

We, however, insist on the proper signification of every word, and say that principium means beginning,—being a term which is suitable to represent things which begin to exist. For nothing which has come into being is without a beginning, nor can this its commencement be at any other moment than when it begins to have existence. Thus principium, or beginning, is simply a term of inception, not the name of a substance. Now, inasmuch as the heaven and the earth are the principal works of God, and since, by His making them first, He constituted them in an especial manner the beginning of His creation, before all things else, with good reason does the Scripture preface (its record of creation) with the words, "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth;" just as it would have said, "At last God made the heaven and the earth," if God had created these after all the rest. Now, if the beginning is a substance, the end must also be material. No doubt, a substantial thing may be the beginning of some other thing which may be formed out of it: thus the clay is the beginning of the vessel, and the seed is the beginning of the plant. But when we employ the word beginning in this sense of origin, and not in that of order, we do not omit to mention also the name of that particular thing which we regard as the origin of the other. On the other hand, if we were to make such a statement as this, for example, "In the beginning the potter made a basin or a water-jug," the word beginning will not here indicate a material substance (for I have not mentioned the clay, which is the beginning in this sense), but only the order of the work, meaning that the potter made the basin and the jug first, before anything else—intending afterwards to make the rest. It is, then, to the order of the works that the word beginning has reference, not to the origin of their substances. I might also explain this word beginning in another way, which would not, however, be inapposite. The Greek term for beginning, which is aρχh, admits the sense not only of priority of order, but of power as well; whence princes and magistrates are called aρχοντες. Therefore in this sense too, beginning may be taken for princely authority and power. It was, indeed, in His transcendent authority and power, that God made the heaven and the earth.

We, however, have but one God, and but one earth too, which in the beginning God made. The Scripture, which at its very outset proposes to run through the order thereof, tells us as its first information that it was created; it next proceeds to set forth what sort of earth it was. In like manner with respect to the heaven, it informs us first of its creation—"In the beginning God made the heaven:" it then goes on to introduce its arrangement; how that God both separated "the water which was below the firmament from that which was above the firmament," and called the firmament heaven,—the very thing He had created in the beginning. Similarly it (afterwards) treats of man: "And God created man, in the image of God made He him." It next reveals how He made him: "And (the Lord) God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Now this is undoubtedly the correct and fitting mode for the narrative. First comes a prefatory statement, then follow the details in full; first the subject is named, then it is described. ... Indeed, how full and complete is the meaning of these words: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; but the earth was without form, and void,"—the very same earth, no doubt, which God made, and of which the Scripture had been speaking at that very moment.

1) "Of time." Things are said to be created in the beginning of time, not as if the beginning of time were a measure of creation, but because together with time heaven and earth were created. 2) In the Son." In the Son by reason of wisdom, in order that, as it is said (Psalm 103:24), "Thou hast made all things in wisdom," it may be understood that God made all things in the beginning--that is, in the Son; according to the word of the Apostle (Colossians 1:16), "In Him"--the Son--"were created all things. 3) Before all things--Nothing is made except as it exists. But nothing exists of time except "now." Hence time cannot be made except according to some "now"; not because in the first "now" is time, but because from it time begins. God: That is to say the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The Hebrew original has "Elohim," which may be rendered "Gods" or "Judges": Various languages have diverse modes of expression. So as by reason of the plurality of "supposita" the Greeks said "three hypostases," so also in Hebrew "Elohim" is in the plural. We, however, do not apply the plural either to "God" or to "substance," Though the name "God" signifies a being having Godhead, nevertheless the mode of signification is different. For the name "God" is used substantively; whereas "having Godhead" is used adjectively. Consequently, although there are "three having Godhead," it does not follow that there are three Gods. Created: To be created is, in a manner, to be made. Creation is not change, but is understood as first not existing at all, and afterwards as existing. The gloss has, "To create is to make something from nothing." To create belongs to God according to His being, that is, His essence, which is common to the three Persons of the whole Trinity. The angels were created at the same time as corporeal creatures. For the angels are part of the universe: they do not constitute a universe of themselves; but both they and corporeal natures unite in constituting one universe. At the same time the contrary is not to be deemed erroneous; especially on account of the opinion of Gregory Nazianzen. For Jerome says (In Ep. ad ***. i, 2): "Six thousand years of our time have not yet elapsed; yet how shall we measure the time, how shall we count the ages, in which the Angels, Thrones, Dominations, and the other orders served God?" Damascene also says (De Fide Orth. ii): "Some say that the angels were begotten before all creation; as Gregory the Theologian declares, He first of all devised the angelic and heavenly powers, and the devising was the making thereof." Heaven: According to Chrysostom (Hom. iii in Genes.), Moses prefaces his record by speaking of the works of God collectively, in the words, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," and then proceeds to explain them part by part; in somewhat the same way as one might say: "This house was constructed by that builder," and then add: "First, he laid the foundations, then built the walls, and thirdly, put on the roof." In accepting this explanation we are, therefore, not bound to hold that a different heaven is spoken of in the words: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," and when we read that the firmament was made on the second day. We may also say that the heaven recorded as created in the beginning is not the same as that made on the second day; and there are several senses in which this may be understood. Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. i, 9) that the heaven recorded as made on the first day is the formless spiritual nature, and that the heaven of the second day is the corporeal heaven. According to Bede (Hexaem. i) and Strabus, the heaven made on the first day is the eternal one, and the firmament made on the second day, the starry heaven. According to Damascene (De Fide Orth. ii) that of the first day was spherical in form and without stars, the same, in fact, that the philosophers speak of, calling it the ninth sphere, and the primary movable body that moves with diurnal movement: while by the firmament made on the second day he understands the starry heaven. According to another theory, touched upon by Augustine [Gen. ad lit. ii, 1] the heaven made on the first day was the starry heaven, and the firmament made on the second day was that region of the air where the clouds are collected, which is also called heaven, but equivocally. And to show that the word is here used in an equivocal sense, it is expressly said that "God called the firmament heaven"; just as in a preceding verse it said that "God called the light day" (since the word "day" is also used to denote a space of twenty-four hours). Other instances of a similar use occur, as pointed out by Rabbi Moses. Earth: The earth stands in relation to the heaven as the centre of a circle to its perimeter. But as one center may have many perimeters, so, though there is but one earth, there may be many heavens.

The good architect lays the foundation first and afterward, when the foundation has been laid, plots the various parts of the building, one after the other, and then adds to it the ornamentation.… Scripture points out that things were first created and afterward put in order lest it be supposed that they were not actually created and that they had no beginning, just as if the nature of things had been, as it were, generated from the beginning and did not appear to be something added afterward.

The Spirit fittingly moved over the earth, destined to bear fruit because by the aid of the Spirit it held the seeds of new birth which were to germinate according to the words of the prophet: "Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the earth."

The earth was invisible and unorganized, and darkness was over the abyss. Formlessness is suggested by these words, so that we might grasp the meaning by degrees, for we are unable to think cognitively about an absolute privation of form that still does not go as far as nothing. From this, another visible and organized heaven and earth were to be made.

"And darkness was over the abyss." The Manichaeans find fault with this and say, "Was God then in darkness, before he made the light?" They themselves are truly in the darkness of ignorance, and for that reason they do not understand the light in which God was before he made this light. For they know only the light they see with the eyes of the flesh. And therefore they worship this sun that every creature sees. But let us understand that there is a different light in which God dwells.

One who diligently considers what darkness is really finds only the absence of light. Thus it said, "darkness was over the abyss," as if to say, "There was no light over the abyss." Hence, this matter that is ordered and distinguished by the next work of God is called the invisible and unformed earth and the deep that is lacking light. This is what was above called heaven and earth, like the seed of heaven and earth.

The matter is first called by the name of the universe, that is, of heaven and earth, for the sake of which it was made from absolutely nothing. Second, its formlessness is conveyed by the mention of the unformed earth and the abyss, because among all the elements earth is more formless and less bright than the rest. Third, by the name water, there is signified matter that is subject to the work of the Maker, for water can be moved more easily than earth. And thus on account of the easiness by which it can be worked and moved, the matter subject to the Maker should be called water rather than earth.

5. Do not then go beyond yourself to seek for evil, and imagine that there is an original nature of wickedness. Each of us, let us acknowledge it, is the first author of his own vice. Among the ordinary events of life, some come naturally, like old age and sickness, others by chance like unforeseen occurrences, of which the origin is beyond ourselves, often sad, sometimes fortunate, as for instance the discovery of a treasure when digging a well, or the meeting of a mad dog when going to the market place. Others depend upon ourselves, such as ruling one's passions, or not putting a bridle on one's pleasures, to be master of our anger, or to raise the hand against him who irritates us, to tell the truth, or to lie, to have a sweet and well-regulated disposition, or to be fierce and swollen and exalted with pride. Here you are the master of your actions. Do not look for the guiding cause beyond yourself, but recognise that evil, rightly so called, has no other origin than our voluntary falls. If it were involuntary, and did not depend upon ourselves, the laws would not have so much terror for the guilty, and the tribunals would not be so without pity when they condemn wretches according to the measure of their crimes. But enough concerning evil rightly so called. Sickness, poverty, obscurity, death, finally all human afflictions, ought not to be ranked as evils; since we do not count among the greatest boons things which are their opposites. Among these afflictions, some are the effect of nature, others have obviously been for many a source of advantage. Let us then be silent for the moment about these metaphors and allegories, and, simply following without vain curiosity the words of Holy Scripture, let us take from darkness the idea which it gives us.

But reason asks, was darkness created with the world? Is it older than light? Why in spite of its inferiority has it preceded it? Darkness, we reply, did not exist in essence; it is a condition produced in the air by the withdrawal of light. What then is that light which disappeared suddenly from the world, so that darkness should cover the face of the deep? If anything had existed before the formation of this sensible and perishable world, no doubt we conclude it would have been in light. The orders of angels, the heavenly hosts, all intellectual natures named or unnamed, all the ministering spirits, did not live in darkness, but enjoyed a condition fitted for them in light and spiritual joy.

No one will contradict this; least of all he who looks for celestial light as one of the rewards promised to virtue, the light which, as Solomon says, is always a light to the righteous, the light which made the Apostle say Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12 Finally, if the condemned are sent into outer darkness evidently those who are made worthy of God's approval, are at rest in heavenly light. When then, according to the order of God, the heaven appeared, enveloping all that its circumference included, a vast and unbroken body separating outer things from those which it enclosed, it necessarily kept the space inside in darkness for want of communication with the outer light. Three things are, indeed, needed to form a shadow, light, a body, a dark place. The shadow of heaven forms the darkness of the world. Understand, I pray you, what I mean, by a simple example; by raising for yourself at mid-day a tent of some compact and impenetrable material, and shutting yourself up in it in sudden darkness. Suppose that original darkness was like this, not subsisting directly by itself, but resulting from some external causes. If it is said that it rested upon the deep, it is because the extremity of air naturally touches the surface of bodies; and as at that time the water covered everything, we are obliged to say that darkness was upon the face of the deep.

6. And the Spirit of God was borne upon the face of the waters. Does this spirit mean the diffusion of air? The sacred writer wishes to enumerate to you the elements of the world, to tell you that God created the heavens, the earth, water, and air and that the last was now diffused and in motion; or rather, that which is truer and confirmed by the authority of the ancients, by the Spirit of God, he means the Holy Spirit. It is, as has been remarked, the special name, the name above all others that Scripture delights to give to the Holy Spirit, and always by the spirit of God the Holy Spirit is meant, the Spirit which completes the divine and blessed Trinity. You will find it better therefore to take it in this sense. How then did the Spirit of God move upon the waters? The explanation that I am about to give you is not an original one, but that of a Syrian, who was as ignorant in the wisdom of this world as he was versed in the knowledge of the Truth. He said, then, that the Syriac word was more expressive, and that being more analogous to the Hebrew term it was a nearer approach to the scriptural sense. This is the meaning of the word; by was borne the Syrians, he says, understand: it cherished the nature of the waters as one sees a bird cover the eggs with her body and impart to them vital force from her own warmth. Such is, as nearly as possible, the meaning of these words— the Spirit was borne: let us understand, that is, prepared the nature of water to produce living beings: a sufficient proof for those who ask if the Holy Spirit took an active part in the creation of the world.

1. In the few words which have occupied us this morning we have found such a depth of thought that we despair of penetrating further. If such is the fore court of the sanctuary, if the portico of the temple is so grand and magnificent, if the splendour of its beauty thus dazzles the eyes of the soul, what will be the holy of holies? Who will dare to try to gain access to the innermost shrine? Who will look into its secrets? To gaze into it is indeed forbidden us, and language is powerless to express what the mind conceives. However, since there are rewards, and most desirable ones, reserved by the just Judge for the intention alone of doing good, do not let us hesitate to continue our researches. Although we may not attain to the truth, if, with the help of the Spirit, we do not fall away from the meaning of Holy Scripture we shall not deserve to be rejected, and, with the help of grace, we shall contribute to the edification of the Church of God.

The earth, says Holy Scripture, was invisible and unfinished. The heavens and the earth were created without distinction. How then is it that the heavens are perfect while the earth is still unformed and incomplete? In one word, what was the unfinished condition of the earth? And for what reason was it invisible? The fertility of the earth is its perfect finishing; growth of all kinds of plants, the upspringing of tall trees, both productive and sterile, flowers' sweet scents and fair colours, and all that which, a little later, at the voice of God came forth from the earth to beautify her, their universal Mother. As nothing of all this yet existed, Scripture is right in calling the earth without form. We could also say of the heavens that they were still imperfect and had not received their natural adornment, since at that time they did not shine with the glory of the sun and of the moon and were not crowned by the choirs of the stars. These bodies were not yet created. Thus you will not diverge from the truth in saying that the heavens also were without form. The earth was invisible for two reasons: it may be because man, the spectator, did not yet exist, or because being submerged under the waters which over-flowed the surface, it could not be seen, since the waters had not yet been gathered together into their own places, where God afterwards collected them, and gave them the name of seas. What is invisible? First of all that which our fleshly eye cannot perceive; our mind, for example; then that which, visible in its nature, is hidden by some body which conceals it, like iron in the depths of the earth. It is in this sense, because it was hidden under the waters, that the earth was still invisible. However, as light did not yet exist, and as the earth lay in darkness, because of the obscurity of the air above it, it should not astonish us that for this reason Scripture calls it invisible.

2. But the corrupters of the truth, who, incapable of submitting their reason to Holy Scripture, distort at will the meaning of the Holy Scriptures, pretend that these words mean matter. For it is matter, they say, which from its nature is without form and invisible—being by the conditions of its existence without quality and without form and figure. The Artificer submitting it to the working of His wisdom clothed it with a form, organized it, and thus gave being to the visible world.

If matter is uncreated, it has a claim to the same honours as God, since it must be of equal rank with Him. Is this not the summit of wickedness, that an extreme deformity, without quality, without form, shape, ugliness without configuration, to use their own expression, should enjoy the same prerogatives with Him, Who is wisdom, power and beauty itself, the Creator and the Demiurge of the universe? This is not all. If matter is so great as to be capable of being acted on by the whole wisdom of God, it would in a way raise its hypostasis to an equality with the inaccessible power of God, since it would be able to measure by itself all the extent of the divine intelligence. If it is insufficient for the operations of God, then we fall into a more absurd blasphemy, since we condemn God for not being able, on account of the want of matter, to finish His own works. The poverty of human nature has deceived these reasoners. Each of our crafts is exercised upon some special matter— the art of the smith upon iron, that of the carpenter on wood. In all, there is the subject, the form and the work which results from the form. Matter is taken from without— art gives the form— and the work is composed at the same time of form and of matter. Such is the idea that they make for themselves of the divine work. The form of the world is due to the wisdom of the supreme Artificer; matter came to the Creator from without; and thus the world results from a double origin. It has received from outside its matter and its essence, and from God its form and figure. They thus come to deny that the mighty God has presided at the formation of the universe, and pretend that He has only brought a crowning contribution to a common work, that He has only contributed some small portion to the genesis of beings: they are incapable from the debasement of their reasonings of raising their glances to the height of truth. Here below arts are subsequent to matter— introduced into life by the indispensable need of them. Wool existed before weaving made it supply one of nature's imperfections. Wood existed before carpentering took possession of it, and transformed it each day to supply new wants, and made us see all the advantages derived from it, giving the oar to the sailor, the winnowing fan to the labourer, the lance to the soldier. But God, before all those things which now attract our notice existed, after casting about in His mind and determining to bring into being time which had no being, imagined the world such as it ought to be, and created matter in harmony with the form which He wished to give it. He assigned to the heavens the nature adapted for the heavens, and gave to the earth an essence in accordance with its form. He formed, as He wished, fire, air and water, and gave to each the essence which the object of its existence required. Finally, He welded all the diverse parts of the universe by links of indissoluble attachment and established between them so perfect a fellowship and harmony that the most distant, in spite of their distance, appeared united in one universal sympathy. Let those men therefore renounce their fabulous imaginations, who, in spite of the weakness of their argument, pretend to measure a power as incomprehensible to man's reason as it is unutterable by man's voice.

3. God created the heavens and the earth, but not only half—He created all the heavens and all the earth, creating the essence with the form. For He is not an inventor of figures, but the Creator even of the essence of beings. Further let them tell us how the efficient power of God could deal with the passive nature of matter, the latter furnishing the matter without form, the former possessing the science of the form without matter, both being in need of each other; the Creator in order to display His art, matter in order to cease to be without form and to receive a form. But let us stop here and return to our subject.

The earth was invisible and unfinished. In saying In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the sacred writer passed over many things in silence, water, air, fire and the results from them, which, all forming in reality the true complement of the world, were, without doubt, made at the same time as the universe. By this silence, history wishes to train the activity or our intelligence, giving it a weak point for starting, to impel it to the discovery of the truth. Thus, we are not told of the creation of water; but, as we are told that the earth was invisible, ask yourself what could have covered it, and prevented it from being seen? Fire could not conceal it. Fire brightens all about it, and spreads light rather than darkness around. No more was it air that enveloped the earth. Air by nature is of little density and transparent. It receives all kinds of visible object, and transmits them to the spectators. Only one supposition remains; that which floated on the surface of the earth was water— the fluid essence which had not yet been confined to its own place. Thus the earth was not only invisible; it was still incomplete. Even today excessive damp is a hindrance to the productiveness of the earth. The same cause at the same time prevents it from being seen, and from being complete, for the proper and natural adornment of the earth is its completion: grain waving in the valleys— meadows green with grass and rich with many coloured flowers— fertile glades and hill-tops shaded by forests. Of all this nothing was yet produced; the earth was in travail with it in virtue of the power that she had received from the Creator. But she was waiting for the appointed time and the divine order to bring forth.

4. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. Genesis 1:2 A new source for fables and most impious imaginations if one distorts the sense of these words at the will of one's fancies. By darkness these wicked men do not understand what is meant in reality— air not illumined, the shadow produced by the interposition of a body, or finally a place for some reason deprived of light. For them darkness is an evil power, or rather the personification of evil, having his origin in himself in opposition to, and in perpetual struggle with, the goodness of God. If God is light, they say, without any doubt the power which struggles against Him must be darkness, Darkness not owing its existence to a foreign origin, but an evil existing by itself. Darkness is the enemy of souls, the primary cause of death, the adversary of virtue. The words of the Prophet, they say in their error, show that it exists and that it does not proceed from God. From this what perverse and impious dogmas have been imagined! What grievous wolves, Acts 20:29 tearing the flock of the Lord, have sprung from these words to cast themselves upon souls! Is it not from hence that have come forth Marcions and Valentini, and the detestable heresy of the Manicheans, which you may without going far wrong call the putrid humour of the churches.

O man, why wander thus from the truth, and imagine for yourself that which will cause your perdition? The word is simple and within the comprehension of all. The earth was invisible. Why? Because the deep was spread over its surface. What is the deep? A mass of water of extreme depth. But we know that we can see many bodies through clear and transparent water. How then was it that no part of the earth appeared through the water? Because the air which surrounded it was still without light and in darkness. The rays of the sun, penetrating the water, often allow us to see the pebbles which form the bed of the river, but in a dark night it is impossible for our glance to penetrate under the water. Thus, these words the earth was invisible are explained by those that follow; the deep covered it and itself was in darkness. Thus, the deep is not a multitude of hostile powers, as has been imagined; nor darkness an evil sovereign force in enmity with good. In reality two rival principles of equal power, if engaged without ceasing in a war of mutual attacks, will end in self destruction. But if one should gain the mastery it would completely annihilate the conquered. Thus, to maintain the balance in the struggle between good and evil is to represent them as engaged in a war without end and in perpetual destruction, where the opponents are at the same time conquerors and conquered. If good is the stronger, what is there to prevent evil being completely annihilated? But if that be the case, the very utterance of which is impious, I ask myself how it is that they themselves are not filled with horror to think that they have imagined such abominable blasphemies.

It is equally impious to say that evil has its origin from God; because the contrary cannot proceed from its contrary. Life does not engender death; darkness is not the origin of light; sickness is not the maker of health. In the changes of conditions there are transitions from one condition to the contrary; but in genesis each being proceeds from its like, and not from its contrary. If then evil is neither uncreate nor created by God, from whence comes its nature? Certainly that evil exists, no one living in the world will deny. What shall we say then? Evil is not a living animated essence; it is the condition of the soul opposed to virtue, developed in the careless on account of their falling away from good. 5. Do not then go beyond yourself to seek for evil, and imagine that there is an original nature of wickedness. Each of us, let us acknowledge it, is the first author of his own vice. Among the ordinary events of life, some come naturally, like old age and sickness, others by chance like unforeseen occurrences, of which the origin is beyond ourselves, often sad, sometimes fortunate, as for instance the discovery of a treasure when digging a well, or the meeting of a mad dog when going to the market place. Others depend upon ourselves, such as ruling one's passions, or not putting a bridle on one's pleasures, to be master of our anger, or to raise the hand against him who irritates us, to tell the truth, or to lie, to have a sweet and well-regulated disposition, or to be fierce and swollen and exalted with pride. Here you are the master of your actions. Do not look for the guiding cause beyond yourself, but recognise that evil, rightly so called, has no other origin than our voluntary falls. If it were involuntary, and did not depend upon ourselves, the laws would not have so much terror for the guilty, and the tribunals would not be so without pity when they condemn wretches according to the measure of their crimes. But enough concerning evil rightly so called. Sickness, poverty, obscurity, death, finally all human afflictions, ought not to be ranked as evils; since we do not count among the greatest boons things which are their opposites. Among these afflictions, some are the effect of nature, others have obviously been for many a source of advantage. Let us then be silent for the moment about these metaphors and allegories, and, simply following without vain curiosity the words of Holy Scripture, let us take from darkness the idea which it gives us.

But reason asks, was darkness created with the world? Is it older than light? Why in spite of its inferiority has it preceded it? Darkness, we reply, did not exist in essence; it is a condition produced in the air by the withdrawal of light. What then is that light which disappeared suddenly from the world, so that darkness should cover the face of the deep? If anything had existed before the formation of this sensible and perishable world, no doubt we conclude it would have been in light. The orders of angels, the heavenly hosts, all intellectual natures named or unnamed, all the ministering spirits, did not live in darkness, but enjoyed a condition fitted for them in light and spiritual joy. No one will contradict this; least of all he who looks for celestial light as one of the rewards promised to virtue, the light which, as Solomon says, is always a light to the righteous, the light which made the Apostle say Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12 Finally, if the condemned are sent into outer darkness evidently those who are made worthy of God's approval, are at rest in heavenly light. When then, according to the order of God, the heaven appeared, enveloping all that its circumference included, a vast and unbroken body separating outer things from those which it enclosed, it necessarily kept the space inside in darkness for want of communication with the outer light. Three things are, indeed, needed to form a shadow, light, a body, a dark place. The shadow of heaven forms the darkness of the world. Understand, I pray you, what I mean, by a simple example; by raising for yourself at mid-day a tent of some compact and impenetrable material, and shutting yourself up in it in sudden darkness. Suppose that original darkness was like this, not subsisting directly by itself, but resulting from some external causes. If it is said that it rested upon the deep, it is because the extremity of air naturally touches the surface of bodies; and as at that time the water covered everything, we are obliged to say that darkness was upon the face of the deep.

6. And the Spirit of God was borne upon the face of the waters. Does this spirit mean the diffusion of air? The sacred writer wishes to enumerate to you the elements of the world, to tell you that God created the heavens, the earth, water, and air and that the last was now diffused and in motion; or rather, that which is truer and confirmed by the authority of the ancients, by the Spirit of God, he means the Holy Spirit. It is, as has been remarked, the special name, the name above all others that Scripture delights to give to the Holy Spirit, and always by the spirit of God the Holy Spirit is meant, the Spirit which completes the divine and blessed Trinity. You will find it better therefore to take it in this sense. How then did the Spirit of God move upon the waters? The explanation that I am about to give you is not an original one, but that of a Syrian, who was as ignorant in the wisdom of this world as he was versed in the knowledge of the Truth. He said, then, that the Syriac word was more expressive, and that being more analogous to the Hebrew term it was a nearer approach to the scriptural sense. This is the meaning of the word; by was borne the Syrians, he says, understand: it cherished the nature of the waters as one sees a bird cover the eggs with her body and impart to them vital force from her own warmth. Such is, as nearly as possible, the meaning of these words— the Spirit was borne: let us understand, that is, prepared the nature of water to produce living beings: a sufficient proof for those who ask if the Holy Spirit took an active part in the creation of the world.

A new source for fables and most impious imaginations if one distorts the sense of these words at the will of one's fancies. By darkness these wicked men do not understand what is meant in reality— air not illumined, the shadow produced by the interposition of a body, or finally a place for some reason deprived of light. For them darkness is an evil power, or rather the personification of evil, having his origin in himself in opposition to, and in perpetual struggle with, the goodness of God. If God is light, they say, without any doubt the power which struggles against Him must be darkness, Darkness not owing its existence to a foreign origin, but an evil existing by itself. Darkness is the enemy of souls, the primary cause of death, the adversary of virtue. The words of the Prophet, they say in their error, show that it exists and that it does not proceed from God. From this what perverse and impious dogmas have been imagined! What grievous wolves, Acts 20:29 tearing the flock of the Lord, have sprung from these words to cast themselves upon souls! Is it not from hence that have come forth Marcions and Valentini, and the detestable heresy of the Manicheans, which you may without going far wrong call the putrid humour of the churches.

O man, why wander thus from the truth, and imagine for yourself that which will cause your perdition? The word is simple and within the comprehension of all. The earth was invisible. Why? Because the deep was spread over its surface. What is the deep? A mass of water of extreme depth. But we know that we can see many bodies through clear and transparent water. How then was it that no part of the earth appeared through the water? Because the air which surrounded it was still without light and in darkness. The rays of the sun, penetrating the water, often allow us to see the pebbles which form the bed of the river, but in a dark night it is impossible for our glance to penetrate under the water. Thus, these words the earth was invisible are explained by those that follow; the deep covered it and itself was in darkness. Thus, the deep is not a multitude of hostile powers, as has been imagined; nor darkness an evil sovereign force in enmity with good. In reality two rival principles of equal power, if engaged without ceasing in a war of mutual attacks, will end in self destruction. But if one should gain the mastery it would completely annihilate the conquered. Thus, to maintain the balance in the struggle between good and evil is to represent them as engaged in a war without end and in perpetual destruction, where the opponents are at the same time conquerors and conquered. If good is the stronger, what is there to prevent evil being completely annihilated? But if that be the case, the very utterance of which is impious, I ask myself how it is that they themselves are not filled with horror to think that they have imagined such abominable blasphemies.

It is equally impious to say that evil has its origin from God; because the contrary cannot proceed from its contrary. Life does not engender death; darkness is not the origin of light; sickness is not the maker of health. In the changes of conditions there are transitions from one condition to the contrary; but in genesis each being proceeds from its like, and not from its contrary. If then evil is neither uncreate nor created by God, from whence comes its nature? Certainly that evil exists, no one living in the world will deny. What shall we say then? Evil is not a living animated essence; it is the condition of the soul opposed to virtue, developed in the careless on account of their falling away from good.

3. God created the heavens and the earth, but not only half—He created all the heavens and all the earth, creating the essence with the form. For He is not an inventor of figures, but the Creator even of the essence of beings. Further let them tell us how the efficient power of God could deal with the passive nature of matter, the latter furnishing the matter without form, the former possessing the science of the form without matter, both being in need of each other; the Creator in order to display His art, matter in order to cease to be without form and to receive a form. But let us stop here and return to our subject.

The earth was invisible and unfinished. In saying In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the sacred writer passed over many things in silence, water, air, fire and the results from them, which, all forming in reality the true complement of the world, were, without doubt, made at the same time as the universe. By this silence, history wishes to train the activity or our intelligence, giving it a weak point for starting, to impel it to the discovery of the truth. Thus, we are not told of the creation of water; but, as we are told that the earth was invisible, ask yourself what could have covered it, and prevented it from being seen? Fire could not conceal it. Fire brightens all about it, and spreads light rather than darkness around. No more was it air that enveloped the earth. Air by nature is of little density and transparent. It receives all kinds of visible object, and transmits them to the spectators. Only one supposition remains; that which floated on the surface of the earth was water— the fluid essence which had not yet been confined to its own place. Thus the earth was not only invisible; it was still incomplete. Even today excessive damp is a hindrance to the productiveness of the earth. The same cause at the same time prevents it from being seen, and from being complete, for the proper and natural adornment of the earth is its completion: grain waving in the valleys— meadows green with grass and rich with many coloured flowers— fertile glades and hill-tops shaded by forests. Of all this nothing was yet produced; the earth was in travail with it in virtue of the power that she had received from the Creator. But she was waiting for the appointed time and the divine order to bring forth.

1. In the few words which have occupied us this morning we have found such a depth of thought that we despair of penetrating further. If such is the fore court of the sanctuary, if the portico of the temple is so grand and magnificent, if the splendour of its beauty thus dazzles the eyes of the soul, what will be the holy of holies? Who will dare to try to gain access to the innermost shrine? Who will look into its secrets? To gaze into it is indeed forbidden us, and language is powerless to express what the mind conceives. However, since there are rewards, and most desirable ones, reserved by the just Judge for the intention alone of doing good, do not let us hesitate to continue our researches. Although we may not attain to the truth, if, with the help of the Spirit, we do not fall away from the meaning of Holy Scripture we shall not deserve to be rejected, and, with the help of grace, we shall contribute to the edification of the Church of God.

The earth, says Holy Scripture, was invisible and unfinished. The heavens and the earth were created without distinction. How then is it that the heavens are perfect while the earth is still unformed and incomplete? In one word, what was the unfinished condition of the earth? And for what reason was it invisible? The fertility of the earth is its perfect finishing; growth of all kinds of plants, the upspringing of tall trees, both productive and sterile, flowers' sweet scents and fair colours, and all that which, a little later, at the voice of God came forth from the earth to beautify her, their universal Mother. As nothing of all this yet existed, Scripture is right in calling the earth without form. We could also say of the heavens that they were still imperfect and had not received their natural adornment, since at that time they did not shine with the glory of the sun and of the moon and were not crowned by the choirs of the stars. These bodies were not yet created. Thus you will not diverge from the truth in saying that the heavens also were without form. The earth was invisible for two reasons: it may be because man, the spectator, did not yet exist, or because being submerged under the waters which over-flowed the surface, it could not be seen, since the waters had not yet been gathered together into their own places, where God afterwards collected them, and gave them the name of seas. What is invisible? First of all that which our fleshly eye cannot perceive; our mind, for example; then that which, visible in its nature, is hidden by some body which conceals it, like iron in the depths of the earth. It is in this sense, because it was hidden under the waters, that the earth was still invisible. However, as light did not yet exist, and as the earth lay in darkness, because of the obscurity of the air above it, it should not astonish us that for this reason Scripture calls it invisible.

2. But the corrupters of the truth, who, incapable of submitting their reason to Holy Scripture, distort at will the meaning of the Holy Scriptures, pretend that these words mean matter. For it is matter, they say, which from its nature is without form and invisible—being by the conditions of its existence without quality and without form and figure. The Artificer submitting it to the working of His wisdom clothed it with a form, organized it, and thus gave being to the visible world.

If matter is uncreated, it has a claim to the same honours as God, since it must be of equal rank with Him. Is this not the summit of wickedness, that an extreme deformity, without quality, without form, shape, ugliness without configuration, to use their own expression, should enjoy the same prerogatives with Him, Who is wisdom, power and beauty itself, the Creator and the Demiurge of the universe? This is not all. If matter is so great as to be capable of being acted on by the whole wisdom of God, it would in a way raise its hypostasis to an equality with the inaccessible power of God, since it would be able to measure by itself all the extent of the divine intelligence. If it is insufficient for the operations of God, then we fall into a more absurd blasphemy, since we condemn God for not being able, on account of the want of matter, to finish His own works. The poverty of human nature has deceived these reasoners. Each of our crafts is exercised upon some special matter— the art of the smith upon iron, that of the carpenter on wood. In all, there is the subject, the form and the work which results from the form. Matter is taken from without— art gives the form— and the work is composed at the same time of form and of matter.

Such is the idea that they make for themselves of the divine work. The form of the world is due to the wisdom of the supreme Artificer; matter came to the Creator from without; and thus the world results from a double origin. It has received from outside its matter and its essence, and from God its form and figure. They thus come to deny that the mighty God has presided at the formation of the universe, and pretend that He has only brought a crowning contribution to a common work, that He has only contributed some small portion to the genesis of beings: they are incapable from the debasement of their reasonings of raising their glances to the height of truth. Here below arts are subsequent to matter— introduced into life by the indispensable need of them. Wool existed before weaving made it supply one of nature's imperfections. Wood existed before carpentering took possession of it, and transformed it each day to supply new wants, and made us see all the advantages derived from it, giving the oar to the sailor, the winnowing fan to the labourer, the lance to the soldier. But God, before all those things which now attract our notice existed, after casting about in His mind and determining to bring into being time which had no being, imagined the world such as it ought to be, and created matter in harmony with the form which He wished to give it. He assigned to the heavens the nature adapted for the heavens, and gave to the earth an essence in accordance with its form. He formed, as He wished, fire, air and water, and gave to each the essence which the object of its existence required. Finally, He welded all the diverse parts of the universe by links of indissoluble attachment and established between them so perfect a fellowship and harmony that the most distant, in spite of their distance, appeared united in one universal sympathy. Let those men therefore renounce their fabulous imaginations, who, in spite of the weakness of their argument, pretend to measure a power as incomprehensible to man's reason as it is unutterable by man's voice.

Surely the perfect condition of the earth consists in its state of abundance: the budding of all sorts of plants, the putting forth of the lofty trees both fruitful and barren, the freshness and fragrance of flowers, and whatever things appeared on earth a little later by the command of God to adorn their mother. Since as yet there was nothing of this, the Scripture reasonably spoke of it as incomplete. We might say the same also about the heavens; that they were not yet brought to perfection themselves, nor had they received their proper adornment, since they were not yet lighted around by the moon nor the sun, nor crowned by the choirs of the stars. For these things had not yet been made. Therefore you will not err from the truth if you say that the heavens also were incomplete.

But the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep. For why were these things about the earth mentioned, leaving heaven aside, unless because he did not want anything like that to be understood about heaven? For the higher heaven is that which remains always quiet, secluded from all the variable state of this world, in the divine glory of foreknowledge. For about our heaven, in which the lights necessary for this age are placed, scripture subsequently declares both how and when it was made. Therefore, the higher heaven, which is inaccessible to all mortal sights, was not created formless and empty on the earth, which in its first creation produced neither budding plants nor living creatures, because undoubtedly it was immediately created with its inhabitants, that is, filled with the most blessed hosts of angels; who, created in the beginning along with heaven and earth, immediately attributed their condition and that of the entirety of primeval creation to the praise of the Creator, as the very Creator testifies who, speaking to his holy servant Job, says: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth (Job 38:4)? And shortly after: When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7); clearly calling the morning stars those same angels, whom he also names the sons of God, to distinguish them from holy men, who were to be created afterward, and who, like evening stars, were to die in the flesh after confessing divine praise; among these morning stars, one due to the contempt of the praise of God, deserved to hear: How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! You are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God (Isaiah 14:12). In the exposition of this statement, Saint Jerome also recalls the higher heaven, writing thus: "Either before he fell from heaven, he was saying these things; or after he fell from heaven: if he was still in heaven, how does he say: I will ascend into heaven? But because we read, The heaven of heaven is the Lord's, while he was in heaven, that is, the firmament, he desired to ascend into heaven, where the Lord's throne is, not out of humility, but out of pride. But if he speaks these things after he fell from heaven, we should understand the words of arrogance, since neither does he settle being cast down, but still promises himself grandeur, not to be among the stars, but above the stars of God (book VI, on Isaiah)." Justly, therefore, it is memorable that the heaven of heaven was not made formless or empty, nor is there said to remain any place in it for darkness or the abyss, for the Lord God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And justly the earth was formless and empty, as it was still covered entirely by the abyss, that is, the immense depth of waters. Rightly, darkness was over the face of the abyss, since light, which could expel it, had not yet been created. However, those who criticize God by saying that He created darkness before light should not be heeded, because God did not create any darkness in the water or air, but by the distinct order of His providence, He first created the waters along with the heavens and the earth, and then, when He wished, adorned them with the grace of light. This is what we still see happening both in the water and in the air through the daily approach and departure of the sun. For it is not appropriate to believe that the waters were made by anyone other than God, which Scripture, although not saying it openly, clearly implies by indicating that they were illuminated and ordered by His command. Furthermore, the psalm openly states: "And the waters above the heavens praise the name of the Lord, because He commanded and they were created" (Psalm 148:4). It is noteworthy that in the beginning, when heaven was made, two elements of this world—water and earth—are specifically mentioned, and it is understood that the two remaining elements, fire and air, were also included. Fire was concealed in the iron and stones, which were hidden within the earth's interior at that time, and air in the very earth itself, known to be mixed with it because when it becomes moist and receives the warmth of the sun, it immediately exhales abundant vapors. The hot springs that erupt from the earth's interior serve as evidence of the burning fire within, which, when certain metals are encountered deep in the earth, not only produce warm but even scalding waters that reach the surface. These elements were not, as some argue, mixed formlessly together, but the earth, bounded entirely by its current borders, was then just as it is now, except that part of it still remains hidden under the deep sea. The waters covered its entire surface to such a depth that they reached those places where waters now dwell above the firmament of heaven, praising the name of the Creator God along with the heavens of the heavens without ceasing. Thus, the formless matter from which the world was made, as attested by Scripture in its praise of God, saying: "Who made the world from formless matter," had no beauty until it came into the light. Everything that we see in the world, whether starting from the waters and the earth or from nothing, began their natural course. The earth and the waters themselves are called formless matter because, before coming into the light, they had no form. What is so out of order about the material beginnings of the world being dark, so that when light came, what was made would become better, and like a progressing person, what was to follow would be signified by this initial state? This is explained by the Apostle when he says: "For God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts" (2 Cor. 4:6). Elsewhere he says: "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8)—that very light which, when there was darkness over the face of the abyss, God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

And the Spirit of God was moving over the waters. It should not be childishly thought that the creative Spirit, of whom it is written, 'the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world' (Wis. I, 7), was hovering over the things to be created in terms of physical location; rather, it must be understood that the divine power was excelling over the creatures, having in its own power when he would enlighten the abyss of waters, when he would separate them into one place so that the dry land would appear, when and how he would arrange the other creatures according to his will, in the likeness of a craftsman, whose will is accustomed to being superior to the things to be made. This also pertains to the distinction of the higher heaven, in which presently everything arranged by the presence of the Holy Spirit was perfectly illuminating: But these things, as in the lower, that is, the creatures of this world, he intended to lead well the beginnings of condition from time to perfection. For Moses also briefly mentioned the higher world for this reason, because he intended to speak about this world in which man was made, for the instruction of the human race, believing it sufficient if he comprehended the entire state and ornament of the spiritual and invisible creature under the single name of heaven, which he said was made in the beginning; he described the bodily, visible, and corruptible creature more extensively in order; that is, he silently passed over those things which men have sought out as higher and stronger, proposing rather those things which were commanded or promised by God to men. Hence, he also deliberately kept silent about the fall of the rebellious angel and his companions, because this clearly pertained to the state of that invisible and spiritual creature, of which the holy Basil in his second book of Hexameron thus mentions: 'For we think that if there was anything before the establishment of this sensible and corruptible world, it surely was in light. For neither the dignity of angels, nor all the celestial hosts, or if there is anything named or unnameable or any rational power, or ministering spirit, could dwell in darkness, but in light and joy, possessing a fitting abode.' When he well proclaimed that in the beginning God, that is, the Father through the Son, made heaven and earth, he also added a mention of the Holy Spirit by adding: And the Spirit of God was moving over the waters, to signify that the power of the whole Trinity was working together in the creation of the world.

To intimate the order of nature, Scripture determines, according to what was fitting for God to work: that in the beginning, before the course of time, that threefold nature was brought from non-being into being, when it says: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth" and "the Spirit of God moved over the waters." Where by the name of heaven the luminous nature is intimated; by the name of earth, the opaque; by the name of water, the pervious or transparent, whether subject to contrariety or elevated above contrariety. Where also the eternal Trinity is intimated, namely the Father in the name of God creating, the Son in the name of the beginning, the Holy Spirit in the name of the Spirit of God.

But some one will say that it is recorded that He made the heaven and the earth, while nothing is recorded of waters and fire and air. In the first place then, brethren, when He said that the heaven and the earth were made, He indicated by the things which contain, the things that are contained. Then after the interposition of a few passages, hear Him next relate when the air was made: And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Here He does not speak of the Holy Spirit, for the uncreated is not numbered along with what is created, but it is the motion of the air which He calls spirit.

After this Moses spoke not of the firmament and things that were above [it], but rather of those things that were between the firmament and the earth which is within [ the firmament ]. Moses wrote about [ the things within the firmament ] for us, although he did not write about everything for us, for he did not record for us the day on which the spiritual things were created. Moses then goes on to write about the earth, "that it was tohu and bohu, " [ Gen1:2 ] that is, void and desolation. This is to show that even the void and desolation were prior to the elements. I am not saying that the void and desolation were something, but rather that that earth which was to become well-known did not exist, for only the [primitive] earth, without any other [adornment] existed. After Moses spoke about the creation of heaven and earth and showed that the waste and desolation preceded the elements that were created by the length of that moment that followed [their creation ], he turned to write about those elements saying, "Darkness was upon the face of the abyss" [ Gen1:2 ] . For the abyss of waters was created at that time. But how was it created on the day on which it was created? Even though it was created on this day and at this time, Moses does not tell us here how it was created. For now we should accept the creation of the abyss as it is written, while we wait to learn from Moses how it was created. As for the darkness that was upon the face of the abyss, some posit that it was a cloud of heaven. Now, if the firmament had been created on the first day they would speak rightly. If the upper heavens were similar to the firmament, then there would be a thick darkness between the two heavens, for the light had not been created nor affixed there to dissipate the darkness there by its rays. But if the place between the two heavens is light as Ezekiel, Paul, and Stephen bear witness, then how could the heavens, which had dissipated the darkness with their lights, spread darkness over the abyss? Because everything that was created was created in those six days, whether its creation was written down or not, the clouds must also have been created on that first day, just as fire was created along with wind, although Moses did not write about the fire as he did about the wind. Thus, the clouds were created along with the abyss although Moses did not write that the clouds were created along with the abyss, just as he did not record the creation of fire along with that of the wind when he wrote about the creation of the wind. It was necessary that everything be known to have its beginning in those six days. The clouds were surely created along with the abyss, for how many times were these brought forth from the abyss? Elijah saw a cloud rising up out of the sea. Solomon also said, "By his knowledge the depths broke forth and the clouds sprinkled down dew." It was not only because of their substance that they should have been created at this point, but they were created on that first night because they also rendered service on that first night. Just as the clouds covered Egypt for three days and three nights, clouds were spread over all of creation on the first night and on the first day. If the clouds had been dispersed, light would not have been required on the first day because the brightness of the upper heavens would have been sufficient to fill the place of the light that was created on the first day. After one night and one day were completed, the firmament was created on the second evening and henceforth its shadow rendered service for all subsequent nights. Therefore, heaven and earth were created on the evening of the first night. Along with the abyss that was created there were also created those clouds which brought about the requisite night when they were spread out. After their shadow had served for twelve hours, light was created beneath them and the light dispersed their shadow that had been spread over the waters all night. After Moses spoke of the darkness that was spread over the face of the abyss, he then said, "the wind of God was hovering over the face of the waters." [ Gen1:2 ] Because Moses called it the "wind of God" and said "it was hovering," some posit that this is the Holy Spirit and, because of that which is written here, associate it with the activity [of creation.] Nevertheless, the faithful do not make this connection, for they are not likely to so relate it. Rather, by those things that are truly said about it, they associate it with that element. To the end that from these names they are not able to consider the Spirit as active in creation. For it is said that an evil spirit of God consumed Saul. It is also said that "[ the wind ] was hovering," but what came forth from the waters on the first day when [ the wind ] was hovering over the waters? If on the day that it was written that "it was hovering over the waters" nothing came out of the waters, and then on the fifth day when the waters brought forth reptiles and birds, it was not written that the wind "was hovering," how then can anyone say that this wind took part in the activity of creation? For, although scripture says "it was hovering", it did not say that anything came out of the waters on the day that it was hovering. Just as through the service of the clouds, that is, the shadow of the first night, the creation of the clouds that came to be on the first day was brought to our attention, so too through the service of the wind, which is its breeze, Moses wished to make known to us the creation [ of the wind ]. For just as clouds do not exist without a shadow neither does wind exist without a breeze. It is in their service then that we notice those things that are not otherwise apparent to us. Therefore that wind was blowing because it was created for this purpose. After it blew and manifested its creation through its service on the first night, it became calm once again on the first day just as the clouds were dispersed once again on the first day.

[The Holy Spirit] warmed the waters with a kind of vital warmth, even bringing them to a boil through intense heat in order to make them fertile. The action of a hen is similar. It sits on its eggs, making them fertile through the warmth of incubation. Here then, the Holy Spirit foreshadows the sacrament of holy baptism, prefiguring its arrival, so that the waters made fertile by the hovering of cthat same divine Spirit might give birth to the children of God.

It was appropriate to reveal here that the Spirit hovered in order for us to learn that the work of creation was held in common by the Spirit with the Father and the Son. The Father spoke. The Son created. And so it was also right that the Spirit offer its work, clearly shown through its hovering, in order to demonstrate its unity with the other persons. Thus we learn that all was brought to perfection and accomplished by the Trinity.

In the beginning of Genesis, it is written: "And the Spirit was stirring above the waters." You see, then, what it says in the beginning of Genesis. Now for its mystical meaning—"The Spirit was stirring above the waters"—already at that time baptism was being foreshadowed. It could not be true baptism, to be sure, without the Spirit.

(Verse 2.) And the spirit of God was moving over the waters. Because in our books it is written 'was moving', in Hebrew it has 'Merefeth', which we can call 'hovering' or 'brooding', in the likeness of a bird, warming the eggs with the heat of life. From which we understand that it is not said to be the spirit of the world, as some suppose, but the Holy Spirit, who is also said to be the giver of life to all things from the beginning. And if a giver of life, then also a creator. But if You are the creator and God. For, He says, send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created (Psalm 103, 30).

For the depth and the darkness underlay the earth. Since the deep was under the earth, and the darkness was over the deep, undoubtedly both the darkness and the deep were under the earth. For since the waters were over the earth, which they covered, while the spirit was over the waters, both the spirit and the waters were alike over the earth. Of darkness, indeed, the Lord Himself by Isaiah says, "I formed the light, and I created darkness." Isaiah 45:7 Of the wind also Amos says, "He that strengthens the thunder, and creates the wind, and declares His Christ unto men;" Amos 4:13 thus showing that that wind was created which was reckoned with the formation of the earth, which was wafted over the waters, balancing and refreshing and animating all things: not (as some suppose) meaning God Himself by the spirit, on the ground that "God is a Spirit," John 4:24 because the waters would not be able to bear up their Lord; but He speaks of that spirit of which the winds consist, as He says by Isaiah, "Because my spirit went forth from me, and I made every blast."[Against Hermogenes 31] Note that Tertullian understands "spirit" to mean created wind.

The earth was void: or "invisible," inasmuch as the waters covered and concealed it from view; and the formlessness of the earth. But other holy writers understand by earth the element of earth, in this sense, the earth was, according to them, without form. In other words, they hold that formlessness of matter preceded in time its formation. But St. Augustine believes that the formlessness of matter was not prior in time to its formation, but only in origin or the order of nature, Empty: or, according to another reading [Septuagint], "shapeless"--that is, unadorned by herbs and plants. darkness was upon the face of the deep: The formlessness of water, which holds the middle place, is called the "deep," because, as Augustine says (Contr. Faust. xxii, 11), this word signifies the mass of waters without order. Spirit of God: Rabbi Moses (Perplex. ii) understands by the "Spirit of the Lord," the air or the wind, as Plato also did, and says that it is so called according to the custom of Scripture, in which these things are throughout attributed to God. But according to the holy writers, the Spirit of the Lord signifies the Holy Ghost, Who is said to "move over the water"--that is to say, over what Augustine holds to mean formless matter, lest it should be supposed that God loved of necessity the works He was to produce, as though He stood in need of them. For love of that kind is subject to, not superior to, the object of love. Moreover, it is fittingly implied that the Spirit moved over that which was incomplete and unfinished, since that movement is not one of place, but of pre-eminent power, as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. i, 7). It is the opinion, however, of Basil (Hom. ii in Hexaem.) that the Spirit moved over the element of water, "fostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power, as the hen broods over her chickens." For water has especially a life-giving power, since many animals are generated in water, and the seed of all animals is liquid. Also the life of the soul is given by the water of baptism, according to John 3:5: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Scripture usually means the Holy Spirit, Who is said to "move over the waters," not, indeed, in bodily shape, but as the craftsman's will may be said to move over the material to which he intends to give a form.

In creation the Person of the Father is indicated by God the Creator, the Person of the Son by the beginning, in which He created, and the Person of the Holy Ghost by the Spirit that moved over the waters. But in the formation, the Person of the Father is indicated by God that speaks, and the Person of the Son by the Word in which He speaks, and the Person of the Holy Spirit by the satisfaction with which God saw that what was made was good.

God is the author of light, and the place and cause of darkness is the world. But the good Author uttered the word light so that he might reveal the world by infusing brightness therein and thus make its aspect beautiful. Suddenly then, the air became bright and darkness shrank in terror from the brilliance of the novel brightness.

We ought to understand that God did not say "Let there be light" by a sound brought forth from the lungs or by the tongue and teeth. Such thoughts are those of persons physically preoccupied. To be wise in accord with the flesh is death. "Let there be light" was spoken ineffably.

As the words themselves make sufficiently clear, we are told that this light was made. The light born from God is one thing; the light that God made is another. The light born from God is the very Wisdom of God, but the light made by God is something mutable, whether corporeal or incorporeal.

The first word of God created the nature of light; it made darkness vanish, dispelled gloom, illuminated the world, and gave to all beings at the same time a sweet and gracious aspect. The heavens, until then enveloped in darkness, appeared with that beauty which they still present to our eyes. The air was lighted up, or rather made the light circulate mixed with its substance, and, distributing its splendour rapidly in every direction, so dispersed itself to its extreme limits. Up it sprang to the very æther and heaven. In an instant it lighted up the whole extent of the world, the North and the South, the East and the West. For the æther also is such a subtle substance and so transparent that it needs not the space of a moment for light to pass through it. Just as it carries our sight instantaneously to the object of vision, so without the least interval, with a rapidity that thought cannot conceive, it receives these rays of light in its uttermost limits. With light the æther becomes more pleasing and the waters more limpid. These last, not content with receiving its splendour, return it by the reflection of light and in all directions send forth quivering flashes. The divine word gives every object a more cheerful and a more attractive appearance, just as when men in deep sea pour in oil they make the place about them clear. So, with a single word and in one instant, the Creator of all things gave the boon of light to the world.

Let there be light. The order was itself an operation, and a state of things was brought into being, than which man's mind cannot even imagine a pleasanter one for our enjoyment. It must be well understood that when we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God, this divine language does not mean to us a sound which escapes from the organs of speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue; it is a simple sign of the will of God, and, if we give it the form of an order, it is only the better to impress the souls whom we instruct.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. It is fitting for the works of God that the adornment of the world should begin with light: for since He Himself is the true light and dwells in inaccessible light, whose most blessed vision the angels in the heavens of heavens began to enjoy immediately after they were created, He also suitably granted to this world the first grace of material light to be its adornment, so that the other things He created might appear from the source of that light. However, that God is said to have spoken, whether for light to come into being or for other things, we must not believe to be by a bodily voice as we do, but rather that it is understood higher that God spoke for creation to be made, because through His Word He made all, that is, through His only-begotten Son: about whom the Evangelist John speaks more plainly: "In the beginning," he says, "was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him" (John 1:1). Therefore, what John says, all things were made through the Word of God, is what Moses says, that God said: "Let there be light"; said: "Let there be a firmament"; said: "Let there be," and other creatures. This the psalm also says with the addition of the Holy Spirit's person: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens established and all their host by the spirit of His mouth" (Psalm 33:6). But if it is asked in what places light was made on God's command, while the abyss still covered the entire breadth of the earth, it is undoubtedly clear that it shone in the higher parts of that same earth, which the daylight of the sun now usually illuminates. Nor should it be surprising to us that light can shine in the waters by divine operation, since it is established that waters are often illuminated even by human operation, particularly by sailors, who, submerged in the depths of the sea, make them transparent and clear by emitting oil from their mouths. For if man can do such things with the oil from his mouth, how much more must we believe God can create through the Spirit of His mouth, especially as we must believe much rarer waters existed in the beginning than we now usually see on earth, before they were gathered together into one place so that dry land might appear.

Since the distinction of the bodies of the world is considered according to a threefold mode, therefore it was accomplished over three days. For there is the distinction of luminous nature from transparent and opaque, and this was made on the first day in the division of light from darkness.

Things have being in a threefold way, namely in matter or their proper nature, in created intelligence, and in the eternal art; in accordance with which three things Scripture says: "God said: let it be made: He made, and it was made."

Now rightly the whole of time, which runs its course according to a threefold law, namely the law implanted within, the law given from without, and the law infused from above, runs through seven ages and is consummated at the end of the sixth; so that the course of the world may correspond to its origin, and the course of the greater world may correspond to the course of life of the lesser world, namely man, for whose sake it was made. For the first age of the world, in which the formation of the world itself took place, the fall of the demons and the confirmation of the Angels, rightly corresponds to the first day, on which light was made and was distinguished from darkness. Now the first age is called infancy, because, just as infancy is entirely erased by forgetfulness, so that first age was consumed by the flood.

In the work of virtue, six things are required corresponding to the works of the six days. The first is understood in the work of the first day, when God said: Let there be light: and light was made: this is provident circumspection.

Of the central Person, it is said in Genesis: "The Lord God made to grow out of the ground all kinds of trees pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden." In reference to which Augustine writes that of all the things that were made, it was said: "Let there be, He made it," and so it was--excepting light, of which God said "Let there be light," and there was light--for they were produced first in all eternity from Eternal Art, second in the intelligent creature, and third in the material world.

And yet Scriptures say: "God said, 'Let there be light.'" And again, "God said," that is, He begot the Word in whom He disposed all things, and, disposing them, made them. Hence Augustine writes in his Confessions: "Whatever You make, you make through your Word coeternal with You, nor do you make anything by any other mode than by expressing it; and yet You do not eternally make what You eternally express."

There is a vision through that understanding which is given by nature, and a vision through that understanding which is lifted up by faith, taught by Scripture, exalted by contemplation, enlightened by prophecy, absorbed by rapture in God. Through the first vision, we understand that to which our intelligence reaches by its own power. This corresponds to the first day on which light was made. Without this light which is given within, a man has nothing, neither faith nor grace nor the illumination of wisdom. For this reason also light was separated from darkness.

God said, Let there be light, and the nature of fire came into being. And again proceeding He says: But our souls He fenced round with the body, while He made the angels bodiless. So then, what we see to be the case with respect to human souls and to angels, the same is the case with respect to fire, for the fire above subsists without matter, but the fire below with matter, for the fire above is akin to the fire below, just as our souls are also akin to the angels. How so? because the former are spirit and the latter too are spirit.

The light was released so that it might spread over everything without being fastened down. It dispersed the darkness that was over everything although it did not move. It was only when [the light] went away and when it came that it moved, for when [the light] went away the rule was given to the night, and at [the light's] coming there would be an end to [the night's] rule. After the brightness [of the light] rendered its service for three days … the sun was in the firmament in order to ripen whatever had sprouted under that first light.

After Moses spoke of heaven and earth, of the darkness, the abyss and the wind that came to be at the beginning of the first night, he then turned to speak about the light that came to be at dawn of the first day. At the end of the twelve hours of that night, the light was created between the clouds and the waters and it chased away the shadow of the clouds that were overshadowing the waters and making them dark. For Nisan was the first month; in it the number of the hours of day and night were equal. The light, then, remained a length of twelve hours so that each day might also obtain its [ own ] hours just as the night possesses a measured length of time. Although the light and the clouds were created in the twinkling of an eye, the day and the night of the first day were each completed in twelve hours. The light then was like a bright mist over the face of the earth. Whether it was like the dawn or like the pillar that gave light in the wilderness to the people, it is obvious that it was unable to chase away the darkness that was spread over the face of everything, unless it had spread out completely over everything, either by its substance or by its appearance. The light was released so that it might spread over everything without being fastened down. It dispersed the darkness that was over everything although it did not move. It was only when [ the light ] went away and when it came that it moved, so that when [ the light ] went away the rule was given to the night and at [ the light's ] coming there would be an end to [ the night's ] rule.

"And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Genesis 1:3 Immediately there appears the Word, "that true light, which lights man on his coming into the world," John 1:9 and through Him also came light upon the world. From that moment God willed creation to be effected in the Word, Christ being present and ministering unto Him: and so God created. The Word also Himself assume His own form and glorious garb, His own sound and vocal utterance, when God says, "Let there be light." Genesis 1:3 This is the perfect nativity of the Word, when He proceeds forth from God. [Against Praxeas 7,12]

Be light made: I answer, then, with Dionysius (Div. Nom. iv), that the light was the sun's light, formless as yet, being already the solar substance, and possessing illuminative power in a general way, to which was afterwards added the special and determinative power required to produce determinate effects. Thus, then, in the production of this light a triple distinction was made between light and darkness. First, as to the cause, forasmuch as in the substance of the sun we have the cause of light, and in the opaque nature of the earth the cause of darkness. Secondly, as to place, for in one hemisphere there was light, in the other darkness. Thirdly, as to time; because there was light for one and darkness for another in the same hemisphere; and this is signified by the words, "He called the light day, and the darkness night." Augustine seems to say (De Civ. Dei xi, 9,33) that Moses could not have fittingly passed over the production of the spiritual creature, and therefore when we read, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," a spiritual nature as yet formless is to be understood by the word "heaven," and formless matter of the corporeal creature by the word "earth." And spiritual nature was formed first, as being of higher dignity than corporeal. The forming, therefore, of this spiritual nature is signified by the production of light, that is to say, of spiritual light. For a spiritual nature receives its form by the enlightenment whereby it is led to adhere to the Word of God.

God, as judge of the whole work, foreseeing what is going to happen as something completed, commends the part of his work which is still in its initial stages, being already cognizant of its termination.

We should understand that this sentence does not signify joy as if over an unexpected good but an approval of the work. For what is said more fittingly of God—insofar as it can be humanly said—than when Scripture puts it this way: "he spoke," and "it was made," "it pleased him." Thus we understand in "he spoke" his sovereignty, in "it was made" his power and in "it pleased him" his goodness. These ineffable things had to be said in this way by a man to men so that they might profit all.

"God saw that the light was good," and these words do not mean that God found before him a good that he had not known but that he was pleased by one that was finished.

How can we worthily praise light after the testimony given by the Creator to its goodness? The word, even among us, refers the judgment to the eyes, incapable of raising itself to the idea that the senses have already received. But, if beauty in bodies results from symmetry of parts, and the harmonious appearance of colours, how in a simple and homogeneous essence like light, can this idea of beauty be preserved? Would not the symmetry in light be less shown in its parts than in the pleasure and delight at the sight of it? Such is also the beauty of gold, which it owes not to the happy mingling of its parts, but only to its beautiful colour which has a charm attractive to the eyes.

Thus again, the evening star is the most beautiful of the stars: not that the parts of which it is composed form a harmonious whole; but thanks to the unalloyed and beautiful brightness which meets our eyes. And further, when God proclaimed the goodness of light, it was not in regard to the charm of the eye but as a provision for future advantage, because at that time there were as yet no eyes to judge of its beauty. And God divided the light from the darkness; (Genesis 1:4) that is to say, God gave them natures incapable of mixing, perpetually in opposition to each other, and put between them the widest space and distance.

Evening, then, is a common boundary line of day and night; and similarly morning is the part of night bordering on day. In order, therefore, to give the prerogative of prior generation to the day, Moses mentioned first the limit of the day and then that of the night, as night followed the day. The condition in the world before the creation of light was not night but darkness. That which was opposed to the day was named night.

And God saw the light, that it was good. Not as if suddenly seeing the light previously unknown did He praise it, because He says it is good; but He declared that it, which He knew would be praiseworthy once created, was already worthy of praise and admiration by men. Indeed, because He did not completely dispel the darkness of the world by infusing light (for it is the privilege of the heavenly realm to enjoy fixed and perpetual light), but by illuminating one part, He left the other dark, it is rightly added:

And He divided the light from the darkness. For He divided them not only by their quality but also by the distance of places, namely by spreading light in the upper part of the world where human activity was to take place, while allowing the lower parts to remain in their ancient darkness.

God saw that the light was good. God separated the light from the darkness, etc. After every one of the works of the six days, with the exception of the second, it is said: God saw that it was good. And at the end: God saw that all He had made was very good. God is said to see, because He makes us see. The first vision of the soul is by means of understanding naturally given. Hence in the Psalm: The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us. And here all the difficulties of philosophy could be explained. The philosophers have offered nine sciences and promised a tenth: contemplation. But many philosophers, while attempting to avoid the darkness of error, have themselves become involved in major errors. While professing to be wise, they have become fools. Because they boasted of their knowledge, these philosophers have become the likes of Lucifer. With the Egyptians was the densest darkness, but with Your saints was the greatest light. All those who properly followed the Law of Nature, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the philosophers, were the sons of light. Truth is the light of the soul. This light never fails. Indeed, it shines so powerfully upon the soul that this soul cannot possibly believe it to be non-existing, or abstain from expressing it, without an inner contradiction. For if truth does not exist, it is true that truth does not exist: and so something is true. And if something is true, it is true that truth exists. Hence if truth does not exist, truth exists!

It has been said that truth is intellectual light radiating over intelligence either human or angelical; and that it shines forth in a manner that cannot be stopped, for it cannot be thought of as non-existing. Now a thing may shine forth in three different ways: as the truth of an object, as the truth of an expression, or as proper behavior. As the truth of an object, it consists in conformity of existence with essence; as the truth of an expression, it is conformity of essence with thought; as proper behavior, it is righteous living. And this is clear on the part of the principle which sends forth light, of the subject which receives this light, and of the objective towards which it enlightens. As a cause of being, this light is powerful; as a reason of understanding, this light is clear; as an ordering of life, this light is good. And that is the reason why it is written: God saw that the light was good. As a powerful light, it irradiates for the sake of understanding substances or essences, the quantities and natures of the world; as a clear light, it irradiates for the sake of understanding rational expressions, reasonings and proofs; as a good light, it suffuses the intelligence, or demonstrates matters of propriety, activity, or justice. As a means of understanding propriety, it points to the practice of good habits; as a means of understanding activity, it points to intellectual speculation; as a means of understanding justice, it points to political laws. First, it is necessary that propriety be acquired, then activity investigated, and finally justice exercised. And here is shown how a prelate should behave: being perfect in both action and contemplation, he must accept the laws. Where? On the Mountain of Contemplation, with Moses, so that he may act with propriety and industry, and not as a beast, for a beast cannot go up into the Mountain: a beast that touches the Mountain must be stoned.

God saw the light that it was good; and He divided the light from the darkness. This passage is quoted to explain the vision of intelligence which is infused by nature. Concerning the fact that it was good, it makes us see, both through scientific consideration and through the contemplation of wisdom. Through scientific consideration, it makes us see in so far as it illumines as light, that is, as the truth of things, the truth of expression, and the truth of behavior. Through the contemplation of wisdom, it makes us see in so far as it illumines by means of the influx of a radiation from the eternal light into the soul. It procures the vision of this same light in itself, as in a mirror; in a separate intelligence, as in a medium somewhat removed; in the eternal light, as in the original subject. It is also written that He divided the light from the darkness; and that some philosophers attacked ideas, as a result of which the threefold understanding of truth was hidden: that is, the truth of eternal art, the truth of divine providence, and the truth of the fall of the angels—which follows if angels only have their perfection from motion. The consequence of this is a threefold blindness: concerning the eternity of the world, the unity of the intellect, and the question of punishment and glory.

These philosophers had the wings of ostriches, for their affective powers were not cleansed or ordained or straightened: for this can be obtained only through faith. Hence they proposed a false circle of beatitude, second a false sufficiency of merits in the present world, third an eternal soundness of internal powers. In these three instances, they fell into darkness.

But faith, brushing away these obscurities, indicates the disease, its cause, Physician, and medicine; it heals the soul by placing the roots of merits in God who must be satisfied. And so the soul goes forth through faith into assured hope by means of the merits of Christ, and not in a presumptuous fashion. And so faith heals, straightens and ordains: in this manner the soul may be changed, straightened and ordained. The philosophers did not know these roots. Faith alone, then, divides the light from the darkness. Hence, the Apostle says: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. For faith, that has hope and charity together with good works, heals the soul, and once it has been healed, cleanses and lifts it up and makes it into the likeness of God. Now we are in the true light: not like those who sleep and take the false for the true, an idol for God.

"God saw the light that it was good; and He divided the light from the darkness." The passage, "God saw the light," is quoted on account of the first vision of the intelligence, which is infused by nature. It means that God made it possible to see. This has been covered in the two preceding collations by considering the sciences, in that the light shines as the truth of things, the truth of words, and the truth of moral acts. And nine parts were distinguished in the doctrine, of which the three principal are radiations proceeding, according to Augustine, from the decree of the eternal light. It was also established that "God saw," that is, made it possible to see, through wisdom-procuring contemplation, through the enlightenment of the soul seen in itself as in a mirror, seen in the intelligence and in a conveying medium, and in the uncreated light as in its fountainhead, in accordance with the six conditions which this light impresses upon the mind. And in accordance with these, the soul rises up in the said light by means of reasoning, testing, and understanding, as it has been said. And the philosophers — at least the most worthy among them — and the ancients have come to this point: that there exists a beginning and an end and an exemplary reason.

"God divided the light from the darkness" in order that what had been said of the angels could also be said of the philosophers. But why have some of them followed darkness? Because of this: although all could see the first cause as the universal principle and universal end, they had different opinions concerning the means. For some denied that exemplars of things existed in this cause: the leader of these seems to have been Aristotle who, in the beginning and the end of his Metaphysics, and in many other places, strongly condemns the ideas of Plato. Wherefore he says that God knows only Himself, and does not need the knowledge of any other thing, and produces as the desired and loved. But this supposes that He knows nothing, or no particular thing. Therefore Aristotle is the principal assailant of Platonic ideas in his "Ethics" where he says that the supreme good cannot be an Idea. And the reasons he adduces are worthless, and the commentator answers them.

Upon this error, there follows another, that is, that God has neither foreknowledge nor providence, since He does not have within Himself a rational justification of things by which He could know them. They also say that there are no truths concerning the future except that of necessary things. And from this it follows that all things come about either by chance or by necessity. And since it is impossible that things come about by chance, the Arabs conclude to absolute necessity, that is, that these substances that move the globe are the necessary causes of all things. From this it follows that truth is hidden, that is, the truth of government of worldly things in terms of pain and glory. If, indeed, these substances are inerrant movers, nothing is supposed concerning hell or the existence of the devil: neither did Aristotle ever suppose the existence of the devil, nor happiness after this life, as it appears. Here, then, there is a threefold error: a concealment of exemplarity, of divine providence and of world government.

From this follows a threefold blindness or darkness, that is, concerning the eternity of the world, which seems to be Aristotle's thesis according to all the Greek doctors, for instance Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen, the Damascene, Basil, and the commentators of all the Arabs, who say that Aristotle holds this opinion, and his words are seen to mean it. Never will you find that he said that the world had a principle or a beginning: he even argues against Plato who seems to have been the only one to suppose that time began. And this is contrary to the light of truth. From this follows blindness concerning the existence of a single intellect, for if the world is supposed to be eternal, one of these hypotheses must be true: that souls are infinite in number since there would be an infinite number of men; or that the soul is corruptible; or that it is transmitted from body to body; or that there is only one single intellect in all, an error attributed to Aristotle by his commentator. From these two propositions it may be concluded that after this life there is neither happiness nor pain.

These men, then, fell into error and were not separated from darkness: and these are the worst errors. And they are not yet closed by the key of the bottomless pit. These are the obscurities of Egypt: although a great light had been seen in these things through earlier forms of knowledge, yet all light was put out by these errors. And some men, seeing that Aristotle had been so great in other matters and had expressed the truth so well, could not believe that in this he had not said the truth.

But I say that the eternal light is the exemplar of all things, and that the mind, once lifted up as was the mind of others among the noble philosophers of antiquity, is able to reach it. And in the same light, the first thing to come to the mind is the exemplar of the virtues. As Plotinus writes, "it is absurd that the exemplars of other things be in God, and not the exemplars of the virtues."

Yet there is a difference, and it is just what I suggested. The Eastern mysticism is an ecstasy of unity; the Christian mysticism is an ecstasy of creation, that is of separation and mutual surprise. The latter says, like St. Francis, "My brother fire and my sister water"; the former says, "Myself fire and myself water." Whether you call the Eastern attitude an extension of oneself into everything or a contraction of oneself into nothing is a matter of metaphysical definition. The effect is the same, an effect which lives and throbs throughout all the exquisite arts of the East. This effect is the thing called rhythm, a pulsation of pattern, or of ritual, or of colours, or of cosmic theory, but always suggesting the unification of the individual with the world. But there is quite another kind of sympathy--the sympathy with a thing because it is different. No one will say that Rembrandt did not sympathise with an old woman; but no one will say that Rembrandt painted like an old woman. No one will say that Reynolds did not appreciate children; but no one will say he did it childishly. The supreme instance of this divine division is sex, and that explains (what I could never understand in my youth) why Christendom called the soul the bride of God. For real love is an intense realisation of the "separateness" of all our souls. The most heroic and human love-poetry of the world is never mere passion; precisely because mere passion really is a melting back into Nature, a meeting of the waters. And water is plunging and powerful; but it is only powerful downhill. The high and human love-poetry is all about division rather than identity; and in the great love-poems even the man as he embraces the woman sees her, in the same instant, afar off; a virgin and a stranger.

The angels, dominions and powers, although they began to exist at some time, were already in existence when the [visible] world was created.

"And God divided the light and the darkness, and God called the light day and he called the darkness night." It did not say here "God made the darkness," because darkness is merely the absence of light. Yet God made a division between light and darkness. So too we make a sound by crying out, and we make a silence by not making a sound, because silence is the cessation of sound. Still in some sense we distinguish between sound and silence and call the one sound and the other silence.… "He called the light day, and he called the darkness night" was said in the sense that he made them to be called, because he separated and ordered all things so that they could be distinguished and receive names.

Since the birth of the sun, the light that it diffuses in the air, when shining on our hemisphere, is day; and the shadow produced by its disappearance is night. But at that time it was not after the movement of the sun, but following this primitive light spread abroad in the air or withdrawn in a measure determined by God, that day came and was followed by night.

Evening is then the boundary common to day and night; and in the same way morning constitutes the approach of night to day. It was to give day the privileges of seniority that Scripture put the end of the first day before that of the first night, because night follows day: for, before the creation of light, the world was not in night, but in darkness. It is the opposite of day which was called night, and it did not receive its name until after day. Thus were created the evening and the morning. Scripture means the space of a day and a night, and afterwards no more says day and night, but calls them both under the name of the more important: a custom which you will find throughout Scripture. Everywhere the measure of time is counted by days, without mention of nights. The days of our years, says the Psalmist. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, Genesis 47:9 said Jacob, and elsewhere all the days of my life. Thus under the form of history the law is laid down for what is to follow. And the evening and the morning were one day. Why does Scripture say one day the first day? Before speaking to us of the second, the third, and the fourth days, would it not have been more natural to call that one the first which began the series? If it therefore says one day, it is from a wish to determine the measure of day and night, and to combine the time that they contain. Now twenty-four hours fill up the space of one day— we mean of a day and of a night; and if, at the time of the solstices, they have not both an equal length, the time marked by Scripture does not the less circumscribe their duration. It is as though it said: twenty-four hours measure the space of a day, or that, in reality a day is the time that the heavens starting from one point take to return there. Thus, every time that, in the revolution of the sun, evening and morning occupy the world, their periodical succession never exceeds the space of one day. But must we believe in a mysterious reason for this? God who made the nature of time measured it out and determined it by intervals of days; and, wishing to give it a week as a measure, he ordered the week to revolve from period to period upon itself, to count the movement of time, forming the week of one day revolving seven times upon itself: a proper circle begins and ends with itself. Such is also the character of eternity, to revolve upon itself and to end nowhere. If then the beginning of time is called one day rather than the first day, it is because Scripture wishes to establish its relationship with eternity. It was, in reality, fit and natural to call one the day whose character is to be one wholly separated and isolated from all the others. If Scripture speaks to us of many ages, saying everywhere, age of age, and ages of ages, we do not see it enumerate them as first, second, and third. It follows that we are hereby shown not so much limits, ends and succession of ages, as distinctions between various states and modes of action. The day of the Lord, Scripture says, is great and very terrible, Joel 2:11 and elsewhere Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light. Amos 5:18 A day of darkness for those who are worthy of darkness. No; this day without evening, without succession and without end is not unknown to Scripture, and it is the day that the Psalmist calls the eighth day, because it is outside this time of weeks. Thus whether you call it day, or whether you call it eternity, you express the same idea. Give this state the name of day; there are not several, but only one. If you call it eternity still it is unique and not manifold. Thus it is in order that you may carry your thoughts forward towards a future life, that Scripture marks by the word one the day which is the type of eternity, the first fruits of days, the contemporary of light, the holy Lord's day honoured by the Resurrection of our Lord. And the evening and the morning were one day.

But, while I am conversing with you about the first evening of the world, evening takes me by surprise, and puts an end to my discourse. May the Father of the true light, Who has adorned day with celestial light, Who has made the fire to shine which illuminates us during the night, Who reserves for us in the peace of a future age a spiritual and everlasting light, enlighten your hearts in the knowledge of truth, keep you from stumbling, and grant that you may walk honestly as in the day. Romans 13:13 Thus shall you shine as the sun in the midst of the glory of the saints, and I shall glory in you in the day of Christ, to Whom belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Since the birth of the sun, the light that it diffuses in the air, when shining on our hemisphere, is day; and the shadow produced by its disappearance is night. But at that time it was not after the movement of the sun, but following this primitive light spread abroad in the air or withdrawn in a measure determined by God, that day came and was followed by night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5 Evening is then the boundary common to day and night; and in the same way morning constitutes the approach of night to day. It was to give day the privileges of seniority that Scripture put the end of the first day before that of the first night, because night follows day: for, before the creation of light, the world was not in night, but in darkness. It is the opposite of day which was called night, and it did not receive its name until after day. Thus were created the evening and the morning. Scripture means the space of a day and a night, and afterwards no more says day and night, but calls them both under the name of the more important: a custom which you will find throughout Scripture. Everywhere the measure of time is counted by days, without mention of nights. The days of our years, says the Psalmist. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, Genesis 47:9 said Jacob, and elsewhere all the days of my life. Thus under the form of history the law is laid down for what is to follow. And the evening and the morning were one day. Why does Scripture say one day the first day? Before speaking to us of the second, the third, and the fourth days, would it not have been more natural to call that one the first which began the series? If it therefore says one day, it is from a wish to determine the measure of day and night, and to combine the time that they contain. Now twenty-four hours fill up the space of one day— we mean of a day and of a night; and if, at the time of the solstices, they have not both an equal length, the time marked by Scripture does not the less circumscribe their duration. It is as though it said: twenty-four hours measure the space of a day, or that, in reality a day is the time that the heavens starting from one point take to return there. Thus, every time that, in the revolution of the sun, evening and morning occupy the world, their periodical succession never exceeds the space of one day. But must we believe in a mysterious reason for this? God who made the nature of time measured it out and determined it by intervals of days; and, wishing to give it a week as a measure, he ordered the week to revolve from period to period upon itself, to count the movement of time, forming the week of one day revolving seven times upon itself: a proper circle begins and ends with itself. Such is also the character of eternity, to revolve upon itself and to end nowhere. If then the beginning of time is called one day rather than the first day, it is because Scripture wishes to establish its relationship with eternity. It was, in reality, fit and natural to call one the day whose character is to be one wholly separated and isolated from all the others. If Scripture speaks to us of many ages, saying everywhere, age of age, and ages of ages, we do not see it enumerate them as first, second, and third. It follows that we are hereby shown not so much limits, ends and succession of ages, as distinctions between various states and modes of action. The day of the Lord, Scripture says, is great and very terrible, Joel 2:11 and elsewhere Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light. Amos 5:18 A day of darkness for those who are worthy of darkness. No; this day without evening, without succession and without end is not unknown to Scripture, and it is the day that the Psalmist calls the eighth day, because it is outside this time of weeks. Thus whether you call it day, or whether you call it eternity, you express the same idea. Give this state the name of day; there are not several, but only one. If you call it eternity still it is unique and not manifold. Thus it is in order that you may carry your thoughts forward towards a future life, that Scripture marks by the word one the day which is the type of eternity, the first fruits of days, the contemporary of light, the holy Lord's day honoured by the Resurrection of our Lord. And the evening and the morning were one day. But, while I am conversing with you about the first evening of the world, evening takes me by surprise, and puts an end to my discourse. May the Father of the true light, Who has adorned day with celestial light, Who has made the fire to shine which illuminates us during the night, Who reserves for us in the peace of a future age a spiritual and everlasting light, enlighten your hearts in the knowledge of truth, keep you from stumbling, and grant that you may walk honestly as in the day. Romans 13:13 Thus shall you shine as the sun in the midst of the glory of the saints, and I shall glory in you in the day of Christ, to Whom belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Now, henceforth, after the creation of the sun, it is day when the air is illuminated by the sun shining on the hemisphere above the earth, and night is the darkness of the earth when the sun is hidden. Yet it was not at that time according to solar motion, but it was when that first created light was diffused and again drawn in according to the measure ordained by God, that day came and night succeeded.

In fact, there did exist something, as it seems, even before this world which our mind can attain by contemplation but which has been left uninvestigated because it is not adapted to those who are beginners and as yet infants in understanding. This was a certain condition older than the birth of the world and proper to the supramundane powers, one beyond time, everlasting, without beginning or end. In it the Creator and Producer of all things perfected the works of his art, a spiritual light befitting the blessedness of those who love the Lord, rational and invisible natures, and the whole orderly arrangement of spiritual creatures which surpass our understanding and of which it is impossible even to discover the names. These fill completely the essence of the invisible world.

And He called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. This was said for our understanding; for in what language did God call the light Day and the darkness Night; whether in Hebrew, or Greek, or some other language! And so for everything else that He named, it can be asked in what language He named them; but with God, there is pure understanding without noise and diversity of tongues. However, it is said He "called" because He made them to be called, as He distinguished and ordered everything so that Days could be seen and names given. For we say: That householder built this house, meaning he had it built, and many such examples are found throughout the books of divine Scriptures.

And there was evening and there was morning, one day. And there was evening as the light gradually waned following the completion of the period of daytime length, and as the lower parts of the world emerged, which now habitually happens by the circuit of the sun throughout the night; and there was morning as the same light gradually returned over the earth and initiated another day; and thus one day was completed, namely of twenty-four hours, for the commendation of which the Scripture vigilantly admonishes us so that we might learn that the light which was made illuminated the lower parts of the earth by its setting. For if this did not happen, but rather as evening came, the whole light perished gradually, and gradually returned with the morning and rose again, it would not call it a perfect day in the morning of the next day but in the evening of the first day. Hence, it also preferred to say evening and morning, rather than night and day, to imply that the action of the original light was by circuit, which now indeed happens by the circuit of the sun night and day; beyond this only, that after the stars were created, night too is suffused with its own light, although lesser than that of the day. However, during those first three days, the night remained entirely gloomy and obscure. It was completely fitting that the day beginning from the light should be extended into the morning of the following day, so that it might be intimated that the works of Him who is the true light, and in whom there are no shadows, begin from the light and are completed in the light.

Heaven, earth, fire, wind and water were created from nothing as Scripture bears witness. But light, which came to be on the first day along with the rest of the things that came to be afterwards, came to be from something. For when these other things came to be from nothing, Moses said, "God created heaven and earth." Although it is not written concerning fire, water and wind that they were created, neither is it written that they were made. Therefore, they came to be from nothing just as heaven and earth came to be from nothing. After God began to make [things] from something, Moses wrote, "God said, 'Let there be'" light, and so on. Even though Moses did say, "God created the great serpents," still "let the waters swarm with swarming things" had been [ said ] prior to that. Therefore those five created things were created from nothing and everything else was made from those [ five ] things that came to be from nothing. Fire was also created on the first day, although it is not written down that it was created, because it was in another element. It did not have its own existence, for it was created together with that thing in which it was. It is not possible that a thing which does not exist of itself can precede that thing which is the cause of its existence. That [ fire ] is in the earth, nature bears witness, but that it was not created together with the earth, scripture affirms, when it says, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." Fire then, since it does not exist of itself, remains with the earth, even if the wind and the clouds have been commanded at every moment to bring forth fire from their wombs along with the wind and the clouds. Darkness, too, is neither a self-subsistent being nor a created thing, but is a shadow, as scripture makes clear. It was created neither before heaven nor after the clouds, for it was with the clouds and was brought forth from the clouds. [ Darkness ] too exists in another [ thing ], for it has no substance of its own. When that in which it exists vanishes, the darkness likewise vanishes with it. For whatever comes to an end along with another thing when it vanishes is without its own existence, because that other thing is the cause of its existence. So, how could darkness, whose existence is due to the clouds and to the firmament and not to the first light or to the sun, exist of itself? It is [ a thing ] which one thing, by its cover, brings forth and another, by its brightness, destroys. If one thing creates it and causes it to become something while another thing turns it back into nothing, how can it be a self-subsistent being? The clouds and the firmament, which were created at the beginning, bring it forth and the light that was created on the first day brings it to an end. If a created thing creates it and another created thing destroys it, and henceforth, one thing, at one moment, brings it into visibility and another, at that very moment itself turns back into nothing, turns it back into nothing, it is by compulsion that [ one thing ] causes it to begin and [ another thing ] causes it to go away. If created things cause it to come into existence and also cause it to vanish then it is a creation of creatures. [ The darkness then ] is but a shadow of the firmament and it is capable of vanishing in the presence of another thing, for it can be destroyed before the sun. Some teachings posit that this [ darkness ], which is at all times subject to created things, is an adversary of creatures, and they make that thing which has no substance of its own a self-existent being.

So let no one think that there is anything allegorical in the works of the six days. No one can rightly say that the things pertaining to these days were symbolic, nor can one say that they were meaningless names or that other things were symbolized for us by their names. Rather, let us know in just what manner heaven and earth were created in the beginning. They were truly heaven and earth. There was no other thing signified by the names "heaven" and "earth." The rest of the works and things made that followed were not meaningless significations either, for the substances of their natures correspond to what their names signify.

He did not say "night and day," but "one day," with reference to the name of the light. He did not say the "first day; "for if he had said the "first" day, he would also have had to say that the "second" day was made. But it was right to speak not of the "first day," but of "one day," in order that by saying "one," he might show that it returns on its orbit and, while it remains one, makes up the week.

"And there was evening and morning one day": According to Basil (Hom. ii in Hexaem.), the entire period takes its name, as is customary, from its more important part, the day. And instance of this is found in the words of Jacob, "The days of my pilgrimage," where night is not mentioned at all. But the evening and the morning are mentioned as being the ends of the day, since day begins with morning and ends with evening, or because evening denotes the beginning of night, and morning the beginning of day. It seems fitting, also, that where the first distinction of creatures is described, divisions of time should be denoted only by what marks their beginning. And the reason for mentioning the evening first is that as the evening ends the day, which begins with the light, the termination of the light at evening precedes the termination of the darkness, which ends with the morning. But Chrysostom's explanation is that thereby it is intended to show that the natural day does not end with the evening, but with the morning (Hom. v in Gen.). Or else it can be said, as Augustine puts it (Gen. ad lit. iv, 23), that there is nothing to prevent us from calling something light in comparison with one thing, and darkness with respect to another. In the same way the life of the faithful and the just is called light in comparison with the wicked, according to Ephesians 5:8: "You were heretofore darkness; but now, light in the Lord": yet this very life of the faithful, when set in contrast to the life of glory, is termed darkness, according to 2 Peter 1:19: "You have the firm prophetic word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place." So the angel's knowledge by which he knows things in their own nature, is day in comparison with ignorance or error; yet it is dark in comparison with the vision of the Word.

1. We have now recounted the works of the first day, or rather of one day. Far be it from me indeed, to take from it the privilege it enjoys of having been for the Creator a day apart, a day which is not counted in the same order as the others. Our discussion yesterday treated of the works of this day, and divided the narrative so as to give you food for your souls in the morning, and joy in the evening. Today we pass on to the wonders of the second day. And here I do not wish to speak of the narrator's talent, but of the grace of Scripture, for the narrative is so naturally told that it pleases and delights all the friends of truth. It is this charm of truth which the Psalmist expresses so emphatically when he says, How sweet are your words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Yesterday then, as far as we were able, we delighted our souls by conversing about the oracles of God, and now today we are met together again on the second day to contemplate the wonders of the second day. I know that many artisans, belonging to mechanical trades, are crowding around me. A day's labour hardly suffices to maintain them; therefore I am compelled to abridge my discourse, so as not to keep them too long from their work. What shall I say to them? The time which you lend to God is not lost: he will return it to you with large interest. Whatever difficulties may trouble you the Lord will disperse them. To those who have preferred spiritual welfare, He will give health of body, keenness of mind, success in business, and unbroken prosperity. And, even if in this life our efforts should not realise our hopes, the teachings of the Holy Spirit are none the less a rich treasure for the ages to come. Deliver your heart, then, from the cares of this life and give close heed to my words. Of what avail will it be to you if you are here in the body, and your heart is anxious about your earthly treasure? 2. And God said Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Genesis 1:6 Yesterday we heard God's decree, Let there be light. Today it is, Let there be a firmament. There appears to be something more in this. The word is not limited to a simple command. It lays down the reason necessitating the structure of the firmament: it is, it is said, to separate the waters from the waters. And first let us ask how God speaks? Is it in our manner? Does His intelligence receive an impression from objects, and, after having conceived them, make them known by particular signs appropriate to each of them? Has He consequently recourse to the organs of voice to convey His thoughts? Is He obliged to strike the air by the articulate movements of the voice, to unveil the thought hidden in His heart? Would it not seem like an idle fable to say that God should need such a circuitous method to manifest His thoughts? And is it not more conformable with true religion to say, that the divine will and the first impetus of divine intelligence are the Word of God? It is He whom Scripture vaguely represents, to show us that God has not only wished to create the world, but to create it with the help of a co-operator. Scripture might continue the history as it is begun: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; afterwards He created light, then He created the firmament. But, by making God command and speak, the Scripture tacitly shows us Him to Whom this order and these words are addressed. It is not that it grudges us the knowledge of the truth, but that it may kindle our desire by showing us some trace and indication of the mystery. We seize with delight, and carefully keep, the fruit of laborious efforts, while a possession easily attained is despised. Such is the road and the course which Scripture follows to lead us to the idea of the Only begotten. And certainly, God's immaterial nature had no need of the material language of voice, since His very thoughts could be transmitted to His fellow-worker. What need then of speech, for those Who by thought alone could communicate their counsels to each other? Voice was made for hearing, and hearing for voice. Where there is neither air, nor tongue, nor ear, nor that winding canal which carries sounds to the seat of sensation in the head, there is no need for words: thoughts of the soul are sufficient to transmit the will. As I said then, this language is only a wise and ingenious contrivance to set our minds seeking the Person to whom the words are addressed. 3. In the second place, does the firmament that is called heaven differ from the firmament that God made in the beginning? Are there two heavens? The philosophers, who discuss heaven, would rather lose their tongues than grant this. There is only one heaven, they pretend; and it is of a nature neither to admit of a second, nor of a third, nor of several others. The essence of the celestial body quite complete constitutes its vast unity. Because, they say, every body which has a circular motion is one and finite. And if this body is used in the construction of the first heaven, there will be nothing left for the creation of a second or a third. Here we see what those imagine who put under the Creator's hand uncreated matter; a lie that follows from the first fable. But we ask the Greek sages not to mock us before they are agreed among themselves. Because there are among them some who say there are infinite heavens and worlds. When grave demonstrations shall have upset their foolish system, when the laws of geometry shall have established that, according to the nature of heaven, it is impossible that there should be two, we shall only laugh the more at this elaborate scientific trifling. These learned men see not merely one bubble but several bubbles formed by the same cause, and they doubt the power of creative wisdom to bring several heavens into being! We find, however, if we raise our eyes towards the omnipotence of God, that the strength and grandeur of the heavens differ from the drops of water bubbling on the surface of a fountain. How ridiculous, then, is their argument of impossibility! As for myself, far from not believing in a second, I seek for the third whereon the blessed Paul was found worthy to gaze. And does not the Psalmist in saying heaven of heavens give us an idea of their plurality? Is the plurality of heaven stranger than the seven circles through which nearly all the philosophers agree that the seven planets pass—circles which they represent to us as placed in connection with each other like casks fitting the one into the other? These circles, they say, carried away in a direction contrary to that of the world, and striking the æther, make sweet and harmonious sounds, unequalled by the sweetest melody. And if we ask them for the witness of the senses, what do they say? That we, accustomed to this noise from our birth, on account of hearing it always, have lost the sense of it; like men in smithies with their ears incessantly dinned. If I refuted this ingenious frivolity, the untruth of which is evident from the first word, it would seem as though I did not know the value of time, and mistrusted the intelligence of such an audience. But let me leave the vanity of outsiders to those who are without, and return to the theme proper to the Church. If we believe some of those who have preceded us, we have not here the creation of a new heaven, but a new account of the first. The reason they give is, that the earlier narrative briefly described the creation of heaven and earth; while here scripture relates in greater detail the manner in which each was created. I, however, since Scripture gives to this second heaven another name and its own function, maintain that it is different from the heaven which was made at the beginning; that it is of a stronger nature and of a special use to the universe.

The mass of waters, which from all directions flowed over the earth, and was suspended in the air, was infinite, so that there was no proportion between it and the other elements. Thus, as it has been already said, the abyss covered the earth. We give the reason for this abundance of water. None of you assuredly will attack our opinion; not even those who have the most cultivated minds, and whose piercing eye can penetrate this perishable and fleeting nature; you will not accuse me of advancing impossible or imaginary theories, nor will you ask me upon what foundation the fluid element rests. By the same reason which makes them attract the earth, heavier than water, from the extremities of the world to suspend it in the centre, they will grant us without doubt that it is due both to its natural attraction downwards and its general equilibrium, that this immense quantity of water rests motionless upon the earth. Therefore the prodigious mass of waters was spread around the earth; not in proportion with it and infinitely larger, thanks to the foresight of the supreme Artificer, Who, from the beginning, foresaw what was to come, and at the first provided all for the future needs of the world. But what need was there for this superabundance of water? The essence of fire is necessary for the world, not only in the economy of earthly produce, but for the completion of the universe; for it would be imperfect if the most powerful and the most vital of its elements were lacking. Now fire and water are hostile to and destructive of each other. Fire, if it is the stronger, destroys water, and water, if in greater abundance, destroys fire. As, therefore, it was necessary to avoid an open struggle between these elements, so as not to bring about the dissolution of the universe by the total disappearance of one or the other, the sovereign Disposer created such a quantity of water that in spite of constant diminution from the effects of fire, it could last until the time fixed for the destruction of the world. He who planned all with weight and measure, He who, according to the word of Job, knows the number of the drops of rain, knew how long His work would last, and for how much consumption of fire He ought to allow. This is the reason of the abundance of water at the creation. Further, there is no one so strange to life as to need to learn the reason why fire is essential to the world. Not only all the arts which support life, the art of weaving, that of shoemaking, of architecture, of agriculture, have need of the help of fire, but the vegetation of trees, the ripening of fruits, the breeding of land and water animals, and their nourishment, all existed from heat from the beginning, and have been since maintained by the action of heat. The creation of heat was then indispensable for the formation and the preservation of beings, and the abundance of waters was no less so in the presence of the constant and inevitable consumption by fire. 6. Survey creation; you will see the power of heat reigning over all that is born and perishes. On account of it comes all the water spread over the earth, as well as that which is beyond our sight and is dispersed in the depths of the earth. On account of it are abundance of fountains, springs or wells, courses of rivers, both mountain torrents and ever flowing streams, for the storing of moisture in many and various reservoirs. From the East, from the winter solstice flows the Indus, the greatest river of the earth, according to geographers. From the middle of the East proceed the Bactrus, the Choaspes, and the Araxes, from which the Tanais detaches itself to fall into the Palus-Mæotis. Add to these the Phasis which descends from Mount Caucasus, and countless other rivers, which, from northern regions, flow into the Euxine Sea. From the warm countries of the West, from the foot of the Pyrenees, arise the Tartessus and the Ister, of which the one discharges itself into the sea beyond the Pillars and the other, after flowing through Europe, falls into Euxine Sea. Is there any need to enumerate those which the Ripæan mountains pour forth in the heart of Scythia, the Rhone, and so many other rivers, all navigable, which after having watered the countries of the western Gauls and of Celts and of the neighbouring barbarians, flow into the Western sea? And others from the higher regions of the South flow through Ethiopia, to discharge themselves some into our sea, others into inaccessible seas, the Ægon the Nyses, the Chremetes, and above all the Nile, which is not of the character of a river when, like a sea, it inundates Egypt. Thus the habitable part of our earth is surrounded by water, linked together by vast seas and irrigated by countless perennial rivers, thanks to the ineffable wisdom of Him Who ordered all to prevent this rival element to fire from being entirely destroyed. However, a time will come, when all shall be consumed by fire; as Isaiah says of the God of the universe in these words, That says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers. Isaiah 44:27 Reject then the foolish wisdom of this world, and receive with me the more simple but infallible doctrine of truth. 7. Therefore we read: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. I have said what the word firmament in Scripture means. It is not in reality a firm and solid substance which has weight and resistance; this name would otherwise have better suited the earth. But, as the substance of superincumbent bodies is light, without consistency, and cannot be grasped by any one of our senses, it is in comparison with these pure and imperceptible substances that the firmament has received its name. Imagine a place fit to divide the moisture, sending it, if pure and filtered, into higher regions, and making it fall, if it is dense and earthy; to the end that by the gradual withdrawal of the moist particles the same temperature may be preserved from the beginning to the end. You do not believe in this prodigious quantity of water; but you do not take into account the prodigious quantity of heat, less considerable no doubt in bulk, but exceedingly powerful nevertheless, if you consider it as destructive of moisture. It attracts surrounding moisture, as the melon shows us, and consumes it as quickly when attracted, as the flame of the lamp draws to it the fuel supplied by the wick and burns it up. Who doubts that the æther is an ardent fire? If an impassable limit had not been assigned to it by the Creator, what would prevent it from setting on fire and consuming all that is near it, and absorbing all the moisture from existing things? The aerial waters which veil the heavens with vapours that are sent forth by rivers, fountains, marshes, lakes, and seas, prevent the æther from invading and burning up the universe. Thus we see even this sun, in the summer season, dry up in a moment a damp and marshy country, and make it perfectly arid. What has become of all the water? Let these masters of omniscience tell us. Is it not plain to every one that it has risen in vapour, and has been consumed by the heat of the sun? They say, none the less, that even the sun is without heat. What time they lose in words! And see what proof they lean upon to resist what is perfectly plain. Its colour is white, and neither reddish nor yellow. It is not then fiery by nature, and its heat results, they say, from the velocity of its rotation. What do they gain? That the sun does not seem to absorb moisture? I do not, however, reject this statement, although it is false, because it helps my argument. I said that the consumption of heat required this prodigious quantity of water. That the sun owes its heat to its nature, or that heat results from its action, makes no difference, provided that it produces the same effects upon the same matter. If you kindle fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, or if you light them by holding them to a flame, you will have absolutely the same effect. Besides, we see that the great wisdom of Him who governs all, makes the sun travel from one region to another, for fear that, if it remained always in the same place, its excessive heat would destroy the order of the universe. Now it passes into southern regions about the time of the winter solstice, now it returns to the sign of the equinox; from thence it betakes itself to northern regions during the summer solstice, and keeps up by this imperceptible passage a pleasant temperature throughout all the world. Let the learned people see if they do not disagree among themselves. The water which the sun consumes is, they say, what prevents the sea from rising and flooding the rivers; the warmth of the sun leaves behind the salts and the bitterness of the waters, and absorbs from them the pure and drinkable particles, thanks to the singular virtue of this planet in attracting all that is light and in allowing to fall, like mud and sediment, all which is thick and earthy. From thence come the bitterness, the salt taste and the power of withering and drying up which are characteristic of the sea. While as is notorious, they hold these views, they shift their ground and say that moisture cannot be lessened by the sun.

And surely we need not believe, because [the firmament] seems to have had its origin, according to the general understanding, from water, that it is like either frozen water or some such material that takes its origin from the percolation of moisture, such as is a crystalline rock.

God also said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from those which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day. Here the creation of our heaven, in which the stars are fixed, is described; that it is established firm in the midst of the waters. For we see that waters are underneath it, and above the air and the earth; but we are taught not only by the authority of this Scripture but also by the words of the prophet, who says: Stretching out the heaven like a tent curtain, who covers its higher parts with waters (Psalm 104:2). Therefore, it is established that the starry heaven is firm in the midst of the waters, and nothing prevents believing that it was made out of the waters; for we know how strong, transparent, and pure the crystal stone is, which is certainly generated from the condensation of water, what hinders us from believing that the same disposer of natures solidified the substance of the waters in the firmament of heaven? If someone is moved by how waters, which naturally always flow and fall to the lowest place, can stand above the round heaven, let him remember the Scripture saying about God: Who binds the waters in his clouds, that they do not burst out together downward (Job 26:8); and understand that He who binds the waters below the heaven temporarily as He wills, so that they do not fall all together, not supported by a stronger material foundation, but only retained by the vapors of the clouds, He could also suspend the waters above the round sphere of the heaven, so that they never fall down, not by a vaporous thinness, but by an icy solidity. But even if He wanted to hold liquid waters there, is this greater a miracle than what Scripture says that He hangs the earth itself on nothing? For when the waves of the Red Sea or the river Jordan were set up like walls for the passing of the Israelite people, do they not give evident evidence that waters could stand fixed even above the revolving round heaven? Certainly, what kind of waters they are there, or for what purpose they are reserved, the Creator Himself knows; only it should not be doubted that there are waters there because the holy Scripture says so. But what it is to say of God "let this or that creature be made" has been said above. For He said that it should be made, since He arranged everything to be created in His co-eternal Word, that is, His only-begotten Son. Therefore, when we hear: God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters, let us understand that it was in the Word of God to be made, in which whatever God did out of time He foresaw would be made within the Word before all time. But when we hear: And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from those which were above the firmament, and it was so, let us understand that the creation and disposition of the heaven and waters did not exceed the limits prescribed in the Word of God, according to that of the Psalmist: He gave a commandment, and it shall not pass away (Psalm 148:6). This is to be understood equally about the creatures that are said to be made in the following four days. And when we hear added: And God saw that it was good, let us understand that in the goodness of His Spirit, it pleased Him not as if it was known after it was made but rather in that goodness it pleased Him that it should remain, where it pleased Him it should be made. For it is to be noted that the addition of this word in this place is not found in the Hebrew truth. And it is surprising why among all the things that are read to have been created by God, only in the works of the second day, the approbation of the divine vision is not added, which, however, itself along with the others that God made are shown to have been good when it is said afterward: And God saw all things that He had made, and they were very good, unless perhaps, as some of the Fathers expound, the Scripture wanted to make us understand that the double number, which divides from unity and prefigures the covenants of marriage, is not good; whence also all the animals entering two by two into Noah's ark turn out to be unclean, and an odd number is shown to be clean. Concerning what has been so far expounded, that is, about the creation of the first and second day, the holy Clement thus reports to have spoken by the apostle Peter: "In the beginning, when God made the heaven and the earth, like one house, and the very bodies of the world cast a shadow of those that were enclosed within, they issued darkness from themselves. But when the will of God introduced light, those shadows of the bodies were immediately devoured by light; then the light is assigned to the day, the darkness to the night. Now, the water which was inside the world in the middle of that first heaven and earth, as if congealed by cold, and solidified like crystal, is stretched out, and by such a firmament, the spaces between heaven and earth are as if shut in, and the Creator called that firmament heaven, named by the word of the ancient heaven, and thus divided the whole fabric of the world, when it was one house, into two regions. The cause of this division was that the upper region might serve as a habitation for angels and the lower for men." (Recognition of St. Clement, book I, chapter 27). I have chosen to insert these few things into our work so that the reader may see how much this agrees with the sense of the Fathers.

There is the distinction of transparent nature from transparent, and this was made on the second day in the division of waters from waters.

It is rightly said that the firmament was made in the midst of the waters, not because the waters above the heavens are fluid, cold, heavy, and corruptible waters, but because they are subtle and incorruptible, pervious and raised above all contrariety, and on this account are of celestial nature and to be placed among the celestial things by reason of the nobility of their form. They are also placed there by reason of power and influence. For since every bodily action in lower things takes its rule, origin, and vigor from celestial nature, and since there are two active qualities, namely the hot and the cold, and some heaven is principally influencing the hot, namely the sidereal heaven by reason of its luminosity: it was fitting that some heaven should influence the cold, and thus the crystalline. And just as the sidereal heaven, although it influences toward heat, is nevertheless not formally hot: so also the heaven that is called watery or crystalline is not essentially cold. Hence what the Saints say, that the waters are placed there to restrain the heat of the higher bodies and other similar things, are to be understood not according to formal predication, but according to efficacy and influence.

The second age, in which through the ark and the flood the good were saved and the wicked destroyed, corresponds to the second day, on which through the firmament the separation of waters from waters was made. The second age is called childhood; for just as in childhood we begin to speak, so in the second age the distinction of tongues was made.

In the work of virtue, six things are required corresponding to the works of the six days. It is necessary that a man set for himself a right end in God; and this is indicated when he says: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And God called the firmament heaven; because it is necessary that a man be drawn upward, so that he may have a right intention toward God.

The second vision is understood of the second day, when a firmament was made in the midst, and this firmament is faith which divides the waters. Faith is the origin of wisdom and the origin of knowledge, whether of eternal or of temporal things, in so far as neither knowledge nor wisdom disagrees with faith.

Wisdom refers to the understanding of the eternal God, knowledge to the knowing of God made man. Wherefore the firmament was made in the midst of the waters, that is, faith, in order that the soul may know those things that are above the firmament and those that are below it. And such wisdom concerns divine things, and such knowledge, human things.

The second time corresponds to the second day and to the age of childhood: for then there was made "a firmament in the midst of the waters." At this time, a covenant was made by means of the rainbow, lest man be wiped out by the waters from below; and by means of the ark, lest he perish later in the flood. And as in childhood infants speak and learn to speak, so in the second time tongues were divided. And this extends from Noah to Abraham.

First of all, it is proved from the account of the creation that God divided the one place which extends from the earth to the first heaven, by placing in the middle the firmament, that is, the second heaven, thus making the one place into two places.

On the second day God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. He made this heaven, not the one above, but the visible heaven which he crystallised from the waters like ice. But I shall endeavour to place the matter before your eyes, for many things are better explained by ocular than by oral demonstration. This water, let us suppose, overflowed the earth five cubits. Then God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and thereupon a solid ice-like substance was produced in the midst of the waters, which made lighter the upper half of the water, and left the other half underneath, as it is written: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it make a division between the waters. But wherefore does he call it the firmament? It is, because God made it firm and solid from waters which are of rarer and less compact substance. Wherefore David also says: Praise him in the firmament of his power; and, to take another example, we may adduce smoke, which when emitted from burning wood is rarified and attenuated, but when it mounts up high into the air becomes transformed into the density of a cloud. In this wise, when God had made the waters, which are by nature rarified, ascend on high, He there made them solid. And that this example is to the point, and true, Isaiah testifies where he says: The heaven was made firm and solid as smoke. The heaven having therefore become solid in the midst of the waters made the upper half of them light, but the other half He left underneath. Why then and for what purpose were the waters placed above? Was it that we might drink them or that we might sail on them? For that there are waters above, David testifies, saying: And the water which is above the heavens.

For what fault have they to find with the vast creation of God, who out of the fluid nature of the waters formed the stable substance of the heavens? For God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters." God spoke once for all, and it stands fast, never failing.

The waters that the earth drank on the first day were not salty. Even if they were like the deep on the surface of the earth, they were still not seas. For it was in the seas that these waters, which were not salty before being gathered together, became salty. When they were sent throughout the entire earth for the earth to drink they were sweet, but when they were gathered into seas on the third day, they became salty, lest they become stagnant due to their being gathered together and so that they might receive the rivers that enter into them without increasing. For the quantity that the seas require for nourishment is the measure of the rivers that flow down into them. The rivers flow down into the seas lest the heat of the sun dry them up. The saltiness [ of the seas ] then swallows up [ the rivers ] lest they increase, rise up and cover the earth. Thus the rivers turn into nothing, as it were, because the saltiness of the sea swallows them up. Even if the seas were created when the waters were created and were hidden in the waters, and the seas were bitter, the waters above them were not bitter. For just as in the flood there were seas, but they were covered over [ by those waters ], they were not able to change the sweet waters of the flood, which came from above, into their bitter nature, for if these waters had been bitter, how were the olives and all the plants preserved in them? How did those of the house of Noah and those with them drink from them? Even if Noah had commanded that every food be brought for himself and those with him because there would be no food anywhere, he did not allow water to be brought because those who had entered the ark would be able to take the water from outside of the ark to drink. Therefore, just as the waters of the flood were not salty while the seas were hidden within them, neither were the waters that were gathered on the third day bitter even though the seas below them were bitter. Just as the gathering of the waters did not precede that word which said, "Let the waters be gathered and let the dry land appear," [ Gen1:9 ] neither did the seas exist until that moment when God "called the gathering of water 'seas'." When they received their name they were changed. In their [ new ] place the [ waters ] attained that saltiness which had not been theirs [ even ] outside of their [ old ] place. For their place became deep at that very moment when God said, "Let the waters be gathered into one place." [ Gen1:9 ] Then either the land [ that contained ] the sea was brought down below the [ level of the ] earth to receive within it its own waters along with the waters that were above the entire earth, or the waters swallowed each other so that the place might be sufficient for them, or the place of the sea shook and it became a great depth and the waters quickly hastened into that basin. Although the will of God had gathered these waters, when the earth was created, a gate was opened for them to be gathered into one place. Just as in the gathering of the first and second waters there was found no gathering place because there was no place from which they might go out, so now do these waters come down with all the rains and showers and are gathered into seas along paths and roads which had been prepared for them on the first day. After Moses spoke of those things that came to be on the first day, he began to write about those things that came to be on the second day, saying, "And God said, 'Let there be a firmament between the waters and let it separate the waters below the firmament from the waters above the firmament.'" [ Gen1:6 ] The firmament between the waters was pressed together from the waters. It was of the same measure as the waters that were spread out over the surface of the earth. Then if, in its origin, it was above the earth (for the earth, water and fire were beneath it, while water, wind and darkness were above it), how do others posit that this [ firmament ], which encloses this world within it like a child in the womb, was created in the middle of everything as the womb of everything? If, on the other hand, the firmament had been created as the center of everything, light, darkness and wind, which were above the firmament when it was created, would have been confined above the firmament. If the creation [ of the firmament ] had occurred at night, the darkness and wind would also have remained there together with the waters which remained there. But if the creation [ of the firmament ] had occurred in the day, the light and the wind also would have remained there along with the waters. And if the [ wind, water and lights ] had remained there then the [ wind, water and lights ] here would be other things. When, then, could the [ wind, water and lights ] have been created? If, however, they did not remain there, how did those elements that were above [ the firmament ] when they were created move below it?

On the first day God made what He made out of nothing. But on the other days He did not make out of nothing, but out of what He had made on the first day, by moulding it according to His pleasure.

And let it divide between water and water: and it was so. And God made the firmament; and God divided between the water which was under the firmament, and the water above the firmament: and it was so.

As the excessive volume of water bore along over the face of the earth, the earth was by reason thereof "invisible" and "formless." When the Lord of all designed to make the invisible visible, He fixed then a third part of the waters in the midst; and another third part He set by itself on high, raising it together with the firmament by His own power; and the remaining third He left beneath, for the use and benefit of men. Now at this point we have an asterisk. The words are found in the Hebrew, but do not occur in the Septuagint.

What of the fact that waters were in some way the regulating powers by which the disposition of the world thenceforward was constituted by God? For the suspension of the celestial firmament in the midst He caused by "dividing the waters;" the suspension of "the dry land" He accomplished by "separating the waters." After the world had been hereupon set in order through its elements, when inhabitants were given it, "the waters" were the first to receive the precept "to bring forth living creatures." Water was the first to produce that which had life, that it might be no wonder in baptism if waters know how to give life. For was not the work of fashioning man himself also achieved with the aid of waters? Suitable material is found in the earth, yet not apt for the purpose unless it be moist and juicy; which (earth) "the waters," separated the fourth day before into their own place, temper with their remaining moisture to a clayey consistency.[On Baptism 3]

A firmament: Strabus and Bede teach that there is an eternal heaven, because the firmament, which they take to mean the sidereal heaven, is said to have been made, not in the beginning, but on the second day: whereas the reason given by Basil is that otherwise God would seem to have made darkness His first work. Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. i, 9) that the heaven of the second day is the corporeal heaven. According to Damascene (De Fide Orth. ii) the firmament made on the second day is the starry heaven. Chrysostom understood that the heaven in 1:1 is the same heaven of the second day. Divide the waters from the waters: Whether, then, we understand by the firmament the starry heaven, or the cloudy region of the air, it is true to say that it divides the waters from the waters, according as we take water to denote formless matter, or any kind of transparent body, as fittingly designated under the name of waters. For the starry heaven divides the lower transparent bodies from the higher, and the cloudy region divides that higher part of the air, where the rain and similar things are generated, from the lower part, which is connected with the water and included under that name.

The waters were divided so that some were above the firmament and others below the firmament. Since we said that matter was called water, I believe that the firmament of heaven separated the corporeal matter of visible things from the incorporeal matter of invisible things.

The matter was separated by the interposition of the firmament so that the lower matter is that of bodies and the higher matter that of souls.

Before laying hold of the meaning of Scripture let us try to meet objections from other quarters. We are asked how, if the firmament is a spherical body, as it appears to the eye, its convex circumference can contain the water which flows and circulates in higher regions? What shall we answer? One thing only: because the interior of a body presents a perfect concavity it does not necessarily follow that its exterior surface is spherical and smoothly rounded. Look at the stone vaults of baths, and the structure of buildings of cave form; the dome, which forms the interior, does not prevent the roof from having ordinarily a flat surface. Let these unfortunate men cease, then, from tormenting us and themselves about the impossibility of our retaining water in the higher regions. Now we must say something about the nature of the firmament, and why it received the order to hold the middle place between the waters. Scripture constantly makes use of the word firmament to express extraordinary strength. The Lord my firmament and refuge. I have strengthened the pillars of it. Praise him in the firmament of his power. The heathen writers thus call a strong body one which is compact and full, to distinguish it from the mathematical body. A mathematical body is a body which exists only in the three dimensions, breadth, depth, and height. A firm body, on the contrary, adds resistance to the dimensions. It is the custom of Scripture to call firmament all that is strong and unyielding. It even uses the word to denote the condensation of the air: He, it says, who strengthens the thunder. Scripture means by the strengthening of the thunder, the strength and resistance of the wind, which, enclosed in the hollows of the clouds, produces the noise of thunder when it breaks through with violence. Here then, according to me, is a firm substance, capable of retaining the fluid and unstable element water; and as, according to the common acceptation, it appears that the firmament owes its origin to water, we must not believe that it resembles frozen water or any other matter produced by the filtration of water; as, for example, rock crystal, which is said to owe its metamorphosis to excessive congelation, or the transparent stone which forms in mines. This pellucid stone, if one finds it in its natural perfection, without cracks inside, or the least spot of corruption, almost rivals the air in clearness. We cannot compare the firmament to one of these substances. To hold such an opinion about celestial bodies would be childish and foolish; and although everything may be in everything, fire in earth, air in water, and of the other elements the one in the other; although none of those which come under our senses are pure and without mixture, either with the element which serves as a medium for it, or with that which is contrary to it; I, nevertheless, dare not affirm that the firmament was formed of one of these simple substances, or of a mixture of them, for I am taught by Scripture not to allow my imagination to wander too far afield. But do not let us forget to remark that, after these divine words let there be a firmament, it is not said and the firmament was made but, and God made the firmament, and divided the waters. Genesis 1:7 Hear, O you deaf! See, O you blind!— who, then, is deaf? He who does not hear this startling voice of the Holy Spirit. Who is blind? He who does not see such clear proofs of the Only begotten. Let there be a firmament. It is the voice of the primary and principal Cause. And God made the firmament. Here is a witness to the active and creative power of God.

But as far as concerns the separation of the waters I am obliged to contest the opinion of certain writers in the church who, under the shadow of high and sublime conceptions, have launched out into metaphor and have seen in the waters only a figure to denote spiritual and incorporeal powers. In the higher regions, accordingly, above the firmament, dwell the better; in the lower regions, earth and matter are the dwelling place of the malignant. So, say they, God is praised by the waters that are above the heavens, that is to say, by the good powers, the purity of whose soul makes them worthy to sing the praises of God. And the waters that are under the heavens represent the wicked spirits, who from their natural height have fallen into the abyss of evil. Turbulent, seditious, agitated by the tumultuous waves of passion, they have received the name of sea, because of the instability and the inconstancy of their movements. Let us reject these theories as dreams and old women's tales.

Someone may ask this: Why does the Scripture reduce to a command of the Creator that tendency to flow downward which belongs naturally to water?… If water has this tendency by nature, the command ordering the waters to be gathered together into one place would be superfluous.… To this inquiry we say this, that you recognized very well the movements of the water after the command of the Lord, both that it is unsteady and unstable and that it is borne naturally down slopes and into hollows; but how it had any power previous to that, before the motion was engendered in it from this command, you yourself neither know nor have you heard it from one who knew. Reflect that the voice of God makes nature, and the command given at that time to creation provided the future course of action for the creatures.

The firmament was created on the evening of the second night, just as the heavens came to be on the evening of the first night. But when the firmament came into existence, the covering of clouds that had served for a night and a day in the place of the firmament dissipated. Because [ the firmament ] had been created between the light and the darkness, no darkness remained above it, for the shadow of the clouds was dispelled when the clouds themselves were dispelled. Nor did any of this light remain there, for its alotted measure of time had come to an end and so it sank into the waters that were beneath [ the firmament ]. The wind could not have remained there, either, because it did not even exist there. It was on the first night that Moses said "it hovered" and not on the second night. If the firmament had been created on the first night when [ the wind ] was blowing there could then be some debate. But, since it is not written that [ the wind ] was blowing when the firmament was created, who would say that the wind was there when Scripture does not say so? After the wind hovered on the first day, manifested its service by its blowing and returned to its stillness, then the firmament came to be. It is evident, therefore, that [ the wind ] neither remained above nor descended below, for how can one seek in any place or spot for something whose very substance only exists at the moment of its service and whose service comes to an end when it ceases to blow? The wind underwent three things on the day of its creation: it was created from nothing, it blew in and through something, and it reverted to being hidden in its stillness. After the wind had undergone these three things, the firmament was created on the evening of the second day. There was then nothing that rose along with it, because there was nothing that remained above it. It made a separation between the waters that it was commanded to separate, but not between the light, the wind or darkness, for this had not been commanded. There was no light, therefore, on the first night. On the night of the second and third day, it sank into the waters beneath the firmament and sprang forth as we said [ above ]. But on the fourth day, when the waters were gathered into one place, they say that the firmament was formed and that the sun, the moon, and the stars were formed from the firmament and from fire, and there were places set apart for the lights. The moon would rise in the west of the firmament, the sun in the east, and at the same moment, the stars were dispersed in orderly fashion throughout the entire firmament.

Firmament: Not that in which the stars are set, but the part of the atmosphere where the clouds are collected, and which has received the name firmament from the firmness and density of the air. "For a body is called firm," that is dense and solid, "thereby differing from a mathematical body" as is remarked by Basil (Hom. iii in Hexaem.).

Above the firmament: The waters above the firmament must rather be the vapors resolved from the waters which are raised above a part of the atmosphere, and from which the rain falls. As to the nature of these waters, all are not agreed. Origen says (Hom. i in Gen.) that the waters that are above the firmament are "spiritual substances." Wherefore it is written (Psalm 148:4): "Let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord," and (Daniel 3:60): "Ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord." To this Basil answers (Hom. iii in Hexaem.) that these words do not mean that these waters are rational creatures, but that "the thoughtful contemplation of them by those who understand fulfils the glory of the Creator." Hence in the same context, fire, hail, and other like creatures, are invoked in the same way, though no one would attribute reason to these. We must hold, then, these waters to be material, but their exact nature will be differently defined according as opinions on the firmament differ.

Since Scripture called heaven the firmament, we can without absurdity hold that anything below the ethereal heaven, in which everything is peaceful and stable, is more mutable and perishable and is a kind of corporeal matter prior to the reception of beauty and the distinction of forms.

In the work of virtue, six things are required corresponding to the works of the six days. It is necessary that a man set for himself a right end in God; and this is indicated when he says: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And God called the firmament heaven; because it is necessary that a man be drawn upward, so that he may have a right intention toward God.

GOD called the firmament heaven. The loftiness and firmness of faith have been explained. Now we must speak of its splendor. Heaven is called caelum, because engraved (caelatum), that is, sculptured with stars. Genesis explains how splendid is this faith: "Look at the heavens and, if you can, count the stars. So shall your posterity be." The promise of a bodily posterity was made to Abraham, for it is written: "So shall your posterity be." The promise of a spiritual posterity was also made to him, for through faith he was to be the father of a multitude. The flesh of Abraham gave forth offspring and was thus multiplied. All the more so would his spiritual begetting be fruitful: for he begot spiritually through his fruitful mind. Now, the great number of thoughts arising out of faith transcend in clarity the light of the stars.

GOD called the firmament heaven. It has been said that the scope of faith consists in two things, the extreme of loftiness and the extreme of depth. The scope of faith has been discussed: its firmness now remains to be covered. But if faith is lofty, how can it be certain? For the higher a thing is, the less it is known; and the less it is known, the more doubtful it must necessarily be. Wherefore we should understand that the firmness of this faith is threefold. It consists first in the witness of truth expressed through the uncreated Word; second, in the witness of truth expressed through the incarnate Word; third, in the witness of truth expressed through the inspired Word.

There now follows the work of the second day, which is the second vision of understanding, lifted up by faith: and of this it is not said that God "saw" but that He "called" it. Literally speaking, this heaven is lofty, stable, and visible: it is lofty as regards its position, stable as regards its form, and visible as regards its clarity. It is lofty: hence in Proverbs, "The heaven above and the earth beneath." By the very fact that the heaven is noble, it holds the highest place in the order of the universe, and the earth the lowest. It is also stable as regards its form, for it moves without changing place, but within its place, around a center. Hence in Job: "Do you spread out with Him the firmament of the skies, hard as a brazen mirror?" It is finally visible as regards the multitude of its adornments. Hence, in Job, "His spirit hath adorned the heavens." And, in Ecclesiasticus, "The beauty, the glory of the heavens are the stars, that rise to adorn the heights of God." Because of the latter quality, heaven is called caelum, from caelando, "by engraving," and not "by concealing": by carving, since it is written with the diphthong ae, for it is adorned and so to speak engraved with lights.

Firmament means a vision of faith. For faith makes the soul or intelligence lofty, since it goes beyond every reason and investigation of the mind. It makes it stable, because it excludes doubt and vacillation; it makes it visible, because it displays its multiformed light. And so, the solidity of faith is also called heaven, because it makes understanding lofty through investigation, stable when it establishes the truth, and visible when it fills it with a manifold light. Hence in Daniel: "The wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament." But no one is wise unless he is taught by God, for "No one comes to the Father but through Me," says the Saviour. And in John: "They all shall be taught of God." No one is taught in matters of faith except through God; and because it comes about through God's voice, it is said: "God called the firmament heaven." It is not said, God saw the firmament, but called it, because the solidity of faith consists rather in belief than in contemplation. For belief is through the ear, because, as the Apostle wrote to the Romans, "faith depends on hearing," and, before that, "with the heart a man believes unto justice."

Now faith consists more precisely in the confession of truth than in the communication of light. Hence, "with the mouth profession of faith is made unto salvation." Therefore in a certain sense faith sees, and in another it does not see. The merit of faith is founded on non-seeing, the light of faith on believing. There exists therefore a firmament-heaven, "the substance of things to be hoped for." And it consists in light, because it is "the evidence of things that are not seen." Wherefore it has both light and clouds. "God called the firmament heaven." In Ecclesiasticus it is written: "The firmament on high is His beauty, the beauty of heaven with its glorious shew." And here, three things are touched upon: loftiness, stability, and beauty. For this vision of faith is lofty, stable and beautiful. This faith is most noble, most solid and most splendid. Many possess it, however, without knowing it, for the face of faith is covered: it wears a kind of dark veil. It turns sinful souls into the most exalted. Hence, in the Acts, "He cleansed their hearts by faith."

Although God said about the light that came to be on the first day that "it was very good," He did not say this about the firmament which came to be on the second day, because the firmament had not yet been finished, neither in its structure nor in its adornment. The Creator delayed until the lights came to be so that when [ the firmament ] was adorned with the sun and the moon and the stars, and the strength of the darkness that was weakened by the lights shining from it, He would then say of the firmament as well as of [ the rest of creation ] that "it was very good."

Although God had already previously made heaven, now he makes the firmament. For he made heaven first, about which he says, "Heaven is my throne." But after that he makes the firmament, that is, the corporeal heaven. For every corporeal object is, without doubt, firm and solid; and it is this that "divides the water which is above heaven from the water which is below heaven."

And if the words, "God saw that it was good," are not said of the work of the second day, this is because the work of distinguishing the waters was only begun on that day, but perfected on the third. Hence these words, that are said of the third day, refer also to the second. Or it may be that Scripture does not use these words of approval of the second days' work, because this is concerned with the distinction of things not evident to the senses of mankind. Or, again, because by the firmament is simply understood the cloudy region of the air, which is not one of the permanent parts of the universe, nor of the principal divisions of the world. The above three reasons are given by Rabbi Moses [Perplex. ii.], and to these may be added a mystical one derived from numbers and assigned by some writers, according to whom the work of the second day is not marked with approval because the second number is an imperfect number, as receding from the perfection of unity.

Now when Scripture says, "Let the water which is below the heavens be gathered into one gathering," these words mean that this corporeal matter is to be formed into the beauty that these visible waters have. This gathering into one place is the formation of these waters that we see and touch. For every form is reduced to a rule of unity. What else should we understand is meant by the words "let the dry land appear" than this matter receives the visible form that this earth that we see and touch now has? Hence the previous expression "the earth was invisible and without form" signified the confusion and obscurity of matter, and the expression "the water over which the spirit of God was borne" signified that same matter. But now this water and earth are formed from that matter that was called by their names before it had received the forms that we now see.

Hence, at the words "Let the waters be gathered together, and let dry land appear," these two things [earth and water] received their proper forms familiar to us and perceived by our senses, water being made fluid and earth solid. Of water, therefore, it is said, "Let it be gathered"; of earth, "Let it appear." For water tends to ebb and flow, but earth remains immobile.

What trouble you have given me in my previous discourses by asking me why the earth was invisible, why all bodies are naturally endued with colour, and why all colour comes under the sense of sight. And, perhaps, my reason did not appear sufficient to you, when I said that the earth, without being naturally invisible, was so to us, because of the mass of water that entirely covered it. Hear then how Scripture explains itself. Let the waters be gathered together, and let the dry land appear. The veil is lifted and allows the earth, hitherto invisible, to be seen. Perhaps you will ask me new questions. And first, is it not a law of nature that water flows downwards? Why, then, does Scripture refer this to the fiat of the Creator? As long as water is spread over a level surface, it does not flow; it is immovable. But when it finds any slope, immediately the foremost portion falls, then the one that follows takes its place, and that one is itself replaced by a third. Thus incessantly they flow, pressing the one on the other, and the rapidity of their course is in proportion to the mass of water that is being carried, and the declivity down which it is borne. If such is the nature of water, it was supererogatory to command it to gather into one place. It was bound, on account of its natural instability, to fall into the most hollow part of the earth and not to stop until the levelling of its surface. We see how there is nothing so level as the surface of water. Besides, they add, how did the waters receive an order to gather into one place, when we see several seas, separated from each other by the greatest distances? To the first question I reply: Since God's command, you know perfectly well the motion of water; you know that it is unsteady and unstable and falls naturally over declivities and into hollow places. But what was its nature before this command made it take its course? You do not know yourself, and you have heard from no eye-witness. Think, in reality, that a word of God makes the nature, and that this order is for the creature a direction for its future course. There was only one creation of day and night, and since that moment they have incessantly succeeded each other and divided time into equal parts. 3. Let the waters be gathered together. It was ordered that it should be the natural property of water to flow, and in obedience to this order, the waters are never weary in their course. In speaking thus, I have only in view the flowing property of waters. Some flow of their own accord like springs and rivers, others are collected and stationary. But I speak now of flowing waters. Let the waters be gathered together unto one place. Have you never thought, when standing near a spring which is sending forth water abundantly, Who makes this water spring from the bowels of the earth? Who forced it up? Where are the store-houses which send it forth? To what place is it hastening? How is it that it is never exhausted here, and never overflows there? All this comes from that first command; it was for the waters a signal for their course. In all the story of the waters remember this first order, let the waters be gathered together. To take their assigned places they were obliged to flow, and, once arrived there, to remain in their place and not to go farther. Thus in the language of Ecclesiastes, All the waters run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. Ecclesiastes 1:6-7 Waters flow in virtue of God's order, and the sea is enclosed in limits according to this first law, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place. For fear the water should spread beyond its bed, and in its successive invasions cover one by one all countries, and end by flooding the whole earth, it received the order to gather unto one place. Thus we often see the furious sea raising mighty waves to the heaven, and, when once it has touched the shore, break its impetuosity in foam and retire. Fear ye not me, says the Lord....which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea. Jeremiah 5:22 A grain of sand, the weakest thing possible, curbs the violence of the ocean. For what would prevent the Red Sea from invading the whole of Egypt, which lies lower, and uniting itself to the other sea which bathes its shores, were it not fettered by the fiat of the Creator? And if I say that Egypt is lower than the Red Sea, it is because experience has convinced us of it every time that an attempt has been made to join the sea of Egypt to the Indian Ocean, of which the Red Sea is a part. Thus we have renounced this enterprise, as also have the Egyptian Sesostris, who conceived the idea, and Darius the Mede who afterwards wished to carry it out. I report this fact to make you understand the full force of the command, Let the waters be gathered unto one place; that is to say, let there be no other gathering, and, once gathered, let them not disperse. 4. To say that the waters were gathered in one place indicates that previously they were scattered in many places. The mountains, intersected by deep ravines, accumulated water in their valleys, when from every direction the waters betook themselves to the one gathering place. What vast plains, in their extent resembling wide seas, what valleys, what cavities hollowed in many different ways, at that time full of water, must have been emptied by the command of God! But we must not therefore say, that if the water covered the face of the earth, all the basins which have since received the sea were originally full. Where can the gathering of the waters have come from if the basins were already full? These basins, we reply, were only prepared at the moment when the water had to unite in a single mass. At that time the sea which is beyond Gadeira and the vast ocean, so dreaded by navigators, which surrounds the isle of Britain and western Spain, did not exist. But, all of a sudden, God created this vast space, and the mass of waters flowed in. Now if our explanation of the creation of the world may appear contrary to experience, (because it is evident that all the waters did not flow together in one place,) many answers may be made, all obvious as soon as they are stated. Perhaps it is even ridiculous to reply to such objections. Ought they to bring forward in opposition ponds and accumulations of rain water, and think that this is enough to upset our reasonings? Evidently the chief and most complete affluence of the waters was what received the name of gathering unto one place. For wells are also gathering places for water, made by the hand of man to receive the moisture diffused in the hollow of the earth. This name of gathering does not mean any chance massing of water, but the greatest and most important one, wherein the element is shown collected together. In the same way that fire, in spite of its being divided into minute particles which are sufficient for our needs here, is spread in a mass in the æther; in the same way that air, in spite of a like minute division, has occupied the region round the earth; so also water, in spite of the small amount spread abroad everywhere, only forms one gathering together, that which separates the whole element from the rest. Without doubt the lakes as well those of the northern regions and those that are to be found in Greece, in Macedonia, in Bithynia and in Palestine, are gatherings together of waters; but here it means the greatest of all, that gathering the extent of which equals that of the earth. The first contain a great quantity of water; no one will deny this. Nevertheless no one could reasonably give them the name of seas, not even if they are like the great sea, charged with salt and sand. They instance for example, the Lacus Asphaltitis in Judæa, and the Serbonian lake which extends between Egypt and Palestine in the Arabian desert. These are lakes, and there is only one sea, as those affirm who have travelled round the earth. Although some authorities think the Hyrcanian and Caspian Seas are enclosed in their own boundaries, if we are to believe the geographers, they communicate with each other and together discharge themselves into the Great Sea. It is thus that, according to their account, the Red Sea and that beyond Gadeira only form one. Then why did God call the different masses of water seas? This is the reason; the waters flowed into one place, and their different accumulations, that is to say, the gulfs that the earth embraced in her folds, received from the Lord the name of seas: North Sea, South Sea, Eastern Sea, and Western Sea. The seas have even their own names, the Euxine, the Propontis, the Hellespont, the Ægean, the Ionian, the Sardinian, the Sicilian, the Tyrrhene, and many other names of which an exact enumeration would now be too long, and quite out of place. See why God calls the gathering together of waters seas. But let us return to the point from which the course of my argument has diverted me. 5. And God said: Let the waters be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear. He did not say let the earth appear, so as not to show itself again without form, mud-like, and in combination with the water, nor yet endued with proper form and virtue. At the same time, lest we should attribute the drying of the earth to the sun, the Creator shows it to us dried before the creation of the sun. Let us follow the thought Scripture gives us. Not only the water which was covering the earth flowed off from it, but all that which had filtered into its depths withdrew in obedience to the irresistible order of the sovereign Master. And it was so. This is quite enough to show that the Creator's voice had effect: however, in several editions, there is added And the water which was under the heavens gathered itself unto one place and the dry land was seen; words that other interpreters have not given, and which do not appear conformable to Hebrew usage. In fact, after the assertion, and it was so, it is superfluous to repeat exactly the same thing. In accurate copies these words are marked with an obelus, which is the sign of rejection.

1. There are towns where the inhabitants, from dawn to eve, feast their eyes on the tricks of innumerable conjurors. They are never tired of hearing dissolute songs which cause much impurity to spring up in their souls, and they are often called happy, because they neglect the cares of business and trades useful to life, and pass the time, which is assigned to them on this earth, in idleness and pleasure. They do not know that a theatre full of impure sights is, for those who sit there, a common school of vice; that these melodious and meretricious songs insinuate themselves into men's souls, and all who hear them, eager to imitate the notes of harpers and pipers, are filled with filthiness. Some others, who are wild after horses, think they are backing their horses in their dreams; they harness their chariots, change their drivers, and even in sleep are not free from the folly of the day. And shall we, whom the Lord, the great worker of marvels, calls to the contemplation of His own works, tire of looking at them, or be slow to hear the words of the Holy Spirit? Shall we not rather stand around the vast and varied workshop of divine creation and, carried back in mind to the times of old, shall we not view all the order of creation? Heaven, poised like a dome, to quote the words of the prophet; earth, this immense mass which rests upon itself; the air around it, of a soft and fluid nature, a true and continual nourishment for all who breathe it, of such tenuity that it yields and opens at the least movement of the body, opposing no resistance to our motions, while, in a moment, it streams back to its place, behind those who cleave it; water, finally, that supplies drink for man, or may be designed for our other needs, and the marvellous gathering together of it into definite places which have been assigned to it: such is the spectacle which the words which I have just read will show you.

God said: Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. The waters that filled everything between the sky and the earth were drawn off, and they gathered into one place, so that the light which shone clearly on the waters for the previous two days might shine more brightly in the pure air; and the earth which had been hidden appeared, and that which had remained muddy and weak under the waters, by their withdrawal, became dry, and was made suitable for receiving seeds. If anyone should ask where the waters that had covered all parts of the earth up to the sky were gathered, let him know that it could have happened that the earth itself, by the command of the Creator, subsided far and wide, providing some parts concave, into which the waters, flowing together, might be received, so that the dry land might appear from those parts where the moisture had receded. It can also not unreasonably be believed that the primary waters, as we mentioned above, were rarer, which covered the land like a mist; but by gathering were made denser, which could be contained in their assigned places, with the dry land appearing in the remaining parts. Although it is clear that there are many seas, he says that the waters were gathered into one place, because evidently all these are connected by a continuous wave and are joined to the great ocean and sea; but even if some lakes appear to be enclosed by themselves, they are said to discharge their streams into the sea through some hidden perforated caverns. For the diggers of wells also prove this, since the entire earth is filled with flowing waters through invisible veins, which draw their origin from the sea.

There is the distinction of transparent nature from opaque, and this was made on the third day in the division of waters from the earth. In these, moreover, the distinction of celestial and elemental things is implicitly given to be understood.

The third age, in which Abraham was called, and the synagogue was begun, which was to bear fruit and generate offspring for the worship of God, corresponds to the third day, on which the earth appeared and brought forth green plants. The third age is called adolescence, because, just as the generative power then begins to pass into its act, so then Abraham was called, and circumcision was given to him, and the promise concerning the seed was made.

In the work of virtue, six things are required corresponding to the works of the six days. Pure affection is required; and this is understood in the third work, when God divided the land from the waters, that is, secular affections from divine ones.

The third vision is understood of the third day, when the waters were gathered together and dry land appeared. The land is Scriptures which have spiritual meanings and refer to angelical and divine hierarchies which have often been marvelously described by the saints: and from these Scriptures spring forth vegetation and the tree of life. But let everyone beware of the tree of inquisitive knowledge.

Such is the third vision, of understanding instructed by Scriptures, which is figured in the work of the third day. And as in the work of the days, there is added a second to the first and a third to both of them, so also out of the first and second visions there comes forth a third, and this vision is more noble and greater than the preceding two. And although such adaptation and comparison to the work of the third day may not seem properly fitting since the earth is the lowest of the elements, while the Scriptures are most high, yet the relationship is excellently pointed out: for whatever the heavens contain in any measure of excellence, the earth holds or receives or possesses in some measure of liveliness. Wherefore it receives the influences of heaven and brings forth the most beautiful swarms of beings.

Now this vision is concerned with three things, the spiritual meanings of the senses, the sacramental symbols, and the manifold interpretations that are drawn from them. All of Scriptures may be reduced to these three. The first are offered to our understanding by means of the gathering of the waters, that is, the spiritual meanings.

The waters that the earth drank on the first day were not salty. Even if they were like the deep on the surface of the earth, they were still not seas. For it was in the seas that these waters, which were not salty before being gathered together, became salty. When they were sent throughout the entire earth for the earth to drink they were sweet, but when they were gathered into seas on the third day, they became salty, lest they become stagnant due to their being gathered together and so that they might receive the rivers that enter into them without increasing. For the quantity that the seas require for nourishment is the measure of the rivers that flow down into them. The rivers flow down into the seas lest the heat of the sun dry them up. The saltiness [ of the seas ] then swallows up [ the rivers ] lest they increase, rise up and cover the earth. Thus the rivers turn into nothing, as it were, because the saltiness of the sea swallows them up. Even if the seas were created when the waters were created and were hidden in the waters, and the seas were bitter, the waters above them were not bitter. For just as in the flood there were seas, but they were covered over [ by those waters ], they were not able to change the sweet waters of the flood, which came from above, into their bitter nature, for if these waters had been bitter, how were the olives and all the plants preserved in them? How did those of the house of Noah and those with them drink from them? Even if Noah had commanded that every food be brought for himself and those with him because there would be no food anywhere, he did not allow water to be brought because those who had entered the ark would be able to take the water from outside of the ark to drink. Therefore, just as the waters of the flood were not salty while the seas were hidden within them, neither were the waters that were gathered on the third day bitter even though the seas below them were bitter. Just as the gathering of the waters did not precede that word which said, "Let the waters be gathered and let the dry land appear," [ Gen1:9 ] neither did the seas exist until that moment when God "called the gathering of water 'seas'." When they received their name they were changed. In their [ new ] place the [ waters ] attained that saltiness which had not been theirs [ even ] outside of their [ old ] place. For their place became deep at that very moment when God said,"Let the waters be gathered into one place." [ Gen1:9 ] Then either the land [ that contained ] the sea was brought down below the [ level of the ] earth to receive within it its own waters along with the waters that were above the entire earth, or the waters swallowed each other so that the place might be sufficient for them, or the place of the sea shook and it became a great depth and the waters quickly hastened into that basin. Although the will of God had gathered these waters, when the earth was created, a gate was opened for thm to be gathered into one place. Just as in the gathering of the first and second waters there was found no gathering place because there was no place from which they might go out, so now do these waters come down with all the rains and showers and are gathered into seas along paths and roads which had been prepared for them on the first day. After Moses spoke of the firmament, which came to be on the second day, he then turned to write about the gathering of the waters and about the grass and the trees that the earth brought forth on the third day, saying, "And God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.'" [ Gen1:9 ] From the fact that He said, "Let the waters be gathered into one place," it is evident that it was the earth which bore the waters and that the abysses were not standing on nothing beneath the earth. Although the waters were gathered in the night at the word of God, the surface of the earth still became dry in the twinkling of an eye.

As for the question of precisely how any single thing came into existence, we must banish it altogether from our discussion. Even in the case of things which are quite within the grasp of our understanding and of which we have sensible perception, it would be impossible for the speculative reason to grasp the "how" of the production of the phenomenon, so much so that even inspired and saintly men have deemed such questions insoluble. For instance, the apostle says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen are not made of things which do appear." … Let us, following the example of the apostle, leave the question of the "how" in each created thing without meddling with it at all but merely observing incidentally that the movement of God's will becomes at any moment that he pleases a fact, and the intention becomes at once realized in nature. .

Have you seen, dear brother, how God, in a sense, stripped the earth, which was invisible and formless, and was covered by the waters as if they were veils, and showed us its face, after he had imposed an appropriate name on it as well? "And the gatherings of the waters he called seas." So the waters also got their name. In fact, as an excellent craftsman, who sets out to make with his art a certain vase, does not give it a name until he has completed it, so the good Lord does not impose names on the elements until he has put them in their proper place according to his command. Therefore after the earth had received its name and had reached its proper form, the gathered waters were called with their own name.

Now, the fact that Scripture speaks of one gathering does not mean that they were gathered together into one place, for notice that after this it says: "And the gathering together of the waters he called seas." Actually, the account meant that the waters were segregated by themselves apart from the earth. And so the waters were brought together into their gathering places and the dry land appeared.

Let us labor, therefore, to gather "the water that is under heaven" and cast it from us that "the dry land," which is our deeds done in the flesh, might appear. When this has been done, "men seeing our good works may glorify our Father who is in heaven." For if we have not separated from us those waters that are under heaven, that is, the sins and vices of our body, our dry land will not be able to appear nor have the courage to advance to the light.

It was when the waters were withdrawn into their hollow abysses that the dry land became conspicuous, which was hitherto covered with its watery envelope. Then it forthwith becomes "visible," God saying, "Let the water be gathered together into one mass, and let the dry land appear." Genesis 1:9 "Appear," says He, not "be made." It had been already made, only in its invisible condition it was then waiting to appear. "Dry," because it was about to become such by its severance from the moisture, but yet "land." "And God called the dry land Earth," not Matter. [Against Hermogenes 29]

One place: All the waters have the sea as their goal, into which they flow by channels hidden or apparent, and this may be the reason why they are said to be gathered together into one place. Let the waters be gathered together in one place: that is, apart from the dry land. Let the dry land appear: On the second day the intermediate body, water, was formed, receiving from the firmament a sort of distinction and order (so that water be understood as including certain other things, as explained above (68, 3). On the third day the earth, the lowest body, received its form by the withdrawal of the waters, and there resulted the distinction in the lowest body, namely, of land and sea. Hence Scripture, having clearly expresses the manner in which it received its form by the equally suitable words, "Let the dry land appear."

Why does Scripture say above that the waters were gathered together unto one place, and that the dry earth appeared? Why does it add here the dry land appeared, and God gave it the name of earth? It is that dryness is the property which appears to characterize the nature of the subject, while the word earth is only its simple name. Just as reason is the distinctive faculty of man, and the word man serves to designate the being gifted with this faculty, so dryness is the special and peculiar quality of the earth. The element essentially dry receives therefore the name of earth, as the animal who has a neigh for a characteristic cry is called a horse. The other elements, like the earth, have received some peculiar property which distinguishes them from the rest, and makes them known for what they are. Thus water has cold for its distinguishing property; air, moisture; fire, heat. But this theory really applies only to the primitive elements of the world. The elements which contribute to the formation of bodies, and come under our senses, show us these qualities in combination, and in the whole of nature our eyes and senses can find nothing which is completely singular, simple and pure. Earth is at the same time dry and cold; water, cold and moist; air, moist and warm; fire, warm and dry. It is by the combination of their qualities that the different elements can mingle. Thanks to a common quality each of them mixes with a neighbouring element, and this natural alliance attaches it to the contrary element. For example, earth, which is at the same time dry and cold, finds in cold a relationship which unites it to water, and by the means of water unites itself to air. Water placed between the two, appears to give each a hand, and, on account of its double quality, allies itself to earth by cold and to air by moisture. Air, in its turn, takes the middle place and plays the part of a mediator between the inimical natures of water and fire, united to the first by moisture, and to the second by heat. Finally fire, of a nature at the same time warm and dry, is linked to air by warmth, and by its dryness reunites itself to the earth. And from this accord and from this mutual mixture of elements, results a circle and an harmonious choir whence each of the elements deserves its name. I have said this in order to explain why God has given to the dry land the name of earth, without however calling the earth dry. It is because dryness is not one of those qualities which the earth acquired afterwards, but one of those which constituted its essence from the beginning. Now that which causes a body to exist, is naturally antecedent to its posterior qualities and has a pre-eminence over them. It is then with reason that God chose the most ancient characteristic of the earth whereby to designate it. 6. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:10 Scripture does not merely wish to say that a pleasing aspect of the sea presented itself to God. It is not with eyes that the Creator views the beauty of His works. He contemplates them in His ineffable wisdom. A fair sight is the sea all bright in a settled calm; fair too, when, ruffled by a light breeze of wind, its surface shows tints of purple and azure,— when, instead of lashing with violence the neighbouring shores, it seems to kiss them with peaceful caresses. However, it is not in this that Scripture makes God find the goodness and charm of the sea. Here it is the purpose of the work which makes the goodness. In the first place sea water is the source of all the moisture of the earth. It filters through imperceptible conduits, as is proved by the subterranean openings and caves whither its waves penetrate; it is received in oblique and sinuous canals; then, driven out by the wind, it rises to the surface of the earth, and breaks it, having become drinkable and free from its bitterness by this long percolation. Often, moved by the same cause, it springs even from mines that it has crossed, deriving warmth from them, and rises boiling, and bursts forth of a burning heat, as may be seen in islands and on the sea coast; even inland in certain places, in the neighbourhood of rivers, to compare little things with great, almost the same phenomena occur. To what do these words tend? To prove that the earth is all undermined with invisible conduits, where the water travels everywhere underground from the sources of the sea. 7. Thus, in the eyes of God, the sea is good, because it makes the under current of moisture in the depths of the earth. It is good again, because from all sides it receives the rivers without exceeding its limits. It is good, because it is the origin and source of the waters in the air. Warmed by the rays of the sun, it escapes in vapour, is attracted into the high regions of the air, and is there cooled on account of its rising high above the refraction of the rays from the ground, and, the shade of the clouds adding to this refrigeration, it is changed into rain and fattens the earth. If people are incredulous, let them look at caldrons on the fire, which, though full of water, are often left empty because all the water is boiled and resolved into vapour. Sailors, too, boil even sea water, collecting the vapour in sponges, to quench their thirst in pressing need. Finally the sea is good in the eyes of God, because it girdles the isles, of which it forms at the same time the rampart and the beauty, because it brings together the most distant parts of the earth, and facilitates the inter-communication of mariners. By this means it gives us the boon of general information, supplies the merchant with his wealth, and easily provides for the necessities of life, allowing the rich to export their superfluities, and blessing the poor with the supply of what they lack. But whence do I perceive the goodness of the Ocean, as it appeared in the eyes of the Creator? If the Ocean is good and worthy of praise before God, how much more beautiful is the assembly of a Church like this, where the voices of men, of children, and of women, arise in our prayers to God mingling and resounding like the waves which beat upon the shore. This Church also enjoys a profound calm, and malicious spirits cannot trouble it with the breath of heresy. Deserve, then, the approbation of the Lord by remaining faithful to such good guidance, in our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Scripture does not merely wish to say that a pleasing aspect of the sea presented itself to God. It is not with eyes that the Creator views the beauty of His works. He contemplates them in His ineffable wisdom. A fair sight is the sea all bright in a settled calm; fair too, when, ruffled by a light breeze of wind, its surface shows tints of purple and azure,— when, instead of lashing with violence the neighbouring shores, it seems to kiss them with peaceful caresses. However, it is not in this that Scripture makes God find the goodness and charm of the sea. Here it is the purpose of the work which makes the goodness.

In the first place sea water is the source of all the moisture of the earth. It filters through imperceptible conduits, as is proved by the subterranean openings and caves whither its waves penetrate; it is received in oblique and sinuous canals; then, driven out by the wind, it rises to the surface of the earth, and breaks it, having become drinkable and free from its bitterness by this long percolation. Often, moved by the same cause, it springs even from mines that it has crossed, deriving warmth from them, and rises boiling, and bursts forth of a burning heat, as may be seen in islands and on the sea coast; even inland in certain places, in the neighbourhood of rivers, to compare little things with great, almost the same phenomena occur. To what do these words tend? To prove that the earth is all undermined with invisible conduits, where the water travels everywhere underground from the sources of the sea.

7. Thus, in the eyes of God, the sea is good, because it makes the under current of moisture in the depths of the earth. It is good again, because from all sides it receives the rivers without exceeding its limits. It is good, because it is the origin and source of the waters in the air. Warmed by the rays of the sun, it escapes in vapour, is attracted into the high regions of the air, and is there cooled on account of its rising high above the refraction of the rays from the ground, and, the shade of the clouds adding to this refrigeration, it is changed into rain and fattens the earth. If people are incredulous, let them look at caldrons on the fire, which, though full of water, are often left empty because all the water is boiled and resolved into vapour. Sailors, too, boil even sea water, collecting the vapour in sponges, to quench their thirst in pressing need.

Finally the sea is good in the eyes of God, because it girdles the isles, of which it forms at the same time the rampart and the beauty, because it brings together the most distant parts of the earth, and facilitates the inter-communication of mariners. By this means it gives us the boon of general information, supplies the merchant with his wealth, and easily provides for the necessities of life, allowing the rich to export their superfluities, and blessing the poor with the supply of what they lack.

But whence do I perceive the goodness of the Ocean, as it appeared in the eyes of the Creator? If the Ocean is good and worthy of praise before God, how much more beautiful is the assembly of a Church like this, where the voices of men, of children, and of women, arise in our prayers to God mingling and resounding like the waves which beat upon the shore. This Church also enjoys a profound calm, and malicious spirits cannot trouble it with the breath of heresy. Deserve, then, the approbation of the Lord by remaining faithful to such good guidance, in our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Why does Scripture say above that the waters were gathered together unto one place, and that the dry earth appeared? Why does it add here the dry land appeared, and God gave it the name of earth? It is that dryness is the property which appears to characterize the nature of the subject, while the word earth is only its simple name. Just as reason is the distinctive faculty of man, and the word man serves to designate the being gifted with this faculty, so dryness is the special and peculiar quality of the earth. The element essentially dry receives therefore the name of earth, as the animal who has a neigh for a characteristic cry is called a horse. The other elements, like the earth, have received some peculiar property which distinguishes them from the rest, and makes them known for what they are. Thus water has cold for its distinguishing property; air, moisture; fire, heat. But this theory really applies only to the primitive elements of the world. The elements which contribute to the formation of bodies, and come under our senses, show us these qualities in combination, and in the whole of nature our eyes and senses can find nothing which is completely singular, simple and pure. Earth is at the same time dry and cold; water, cold and moist; air, moist and warm; fire, warm and dry. It is by the combination of their qualities that the different elements can mingle. Thanks to a common quality each of them mixes with a neighbouring element, and this natural alliance attaches it to the contrary element. For example, earth, which is at the same time dry and cold, finds in cold a relationship which unites it to water, and by the means of water unites itself to air. Water placed between the two, appears to give each a hand, and, on account of its double quality, allies itself to earth by cold and to air by moisture. Air, in its turn, takes the middle place and plays the part of a mediator between the inimical natures of water and fire, united to the first by moisture, and to the second by heat. Finally fire, of a nature at the same time warm and dry, is linked to air by warmth, and by its dryness reunites itself to the earth. And from this accord and from this mutual mixture of elements, results a circle and an harmonious choir whence each of the elements deserves its name. I have said this in order to explain why God has given to the dry land the name of earth, without however calling the earth dry. It is because dryness is not one of those qualities which the earth acquired afterwards, but one of those which constituted its essence from the beginning. Now that which causes a body to exist, is naturally antecedent to its posterior qualities and has a pre-eminence over them. It is then with reason that God chose the most ancient characteristic of the earth whereby to designate it.

5. And God said: Let the waters be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear. He did not say let the earth appear, so as not to show itself again without form, mud-like, and in combination with the water, nor yet endued with proper form and virtue. At the same time, lest we should attribute the drying of the earth to the sun, the Creator shows it to us dried before the creation of the sun. Let us follow the thought Scripture gives us. Not only the water which was covering the earth flowed off from it, but all that which had filtered into its depths withdrew in obedience to the irresistible order of the sovereign Master. And it was so. This is quite enough to show that the Creator's voice had effect: however, in several editions, there is added And the water which was under the heavens gathered itself unto one place and the dry land was seen; words that other interpreters have not given, and which do not appear conformable to Hebrew usage. In fact, after the assertion, and it was so, it is superfluous to repeat exactly the same thing. In accurate copies these words are marked with an obelus, which is the sign of rejection.

4. To say that the waters were gathered in one place indicates that previously they were scattered in many places. The mountains, intersected by deep ravines, accumulated water in their valleys, when from every direction the waters betook themselves to the one gathering place. What vast plains, in their extent resembling wide seas, what valleys, what cavities hollowed in many different ways, at that time full of water, must have been emptied by the command of God! But we must not therefore say, that if the water covered the face of the earth, all the basins which have since received the sea were originally full. Where can the gathering of the waters have come from if the basins were already full? These basins, we reply, were only prepared at the moment when the water had to unite in a single mass. At that time the sea which is beyond Gadeira and the vast ocean, so dreaded by navigators, which surrounds the isle of Britain and western Spain, did not exist. But, all of a sudden, God created this vast space, and the mass of waters flowed in.

Now if our explanation of the creation of the world may appear contrary to experience, (because it is evident that all the waters did not flow together in one place,) many answers may be made, all obvious as soon as they are stated. Perhaps it is even ridiculous to reply to such objections. Ought they to bring forward in opposition ponds and accumulations of rain water, and think that this is enough to upset our reasonings? Evidently the chief and most complete affluence of the waters was what received the name of gathering unto one place. For wells are also gathering places for water, made by the hand of man to receive the moisture diffused in the hollow of the earth. This name of gathering does not mean any chance massing of water, but the greatest and most important one, wherein the element is shown collected together. In the same way that fire, in spite of its being divided into minute particles which are sufficient for our needs here, is spread in a mass in the æther; in the same way that air, in spite of a like minute division, has occupied the region round the earth; so also water, in spite of the small amount spread abroad everywhere, only forms one gathering together, that which separates the whole element from the rest. Without doubt the lakes as well those of the northern regions and those that are to be found in Greece, in Macedonia, in Bithynia and in Palestine, are gatherings together of waters; but here it means the greatest of all, that gathering the extent of which equals that of the earth. The first contain a great quantity of water; no one will deny this. Nevertheless no one could reasonably give them the name of seas, not even if they are like the great sea, charged with salt and sand. They instance for example, the Lacus Asphaltitis in Judæa, and the Serbonian lake which extends between Egypt and Palestine in the Arabian desert. These are lakes, and there is only one sea, as those affirm who have travelled round the earth. Although some authorities think the Hyrcanian and Caspian Seas are enclosed in their own boundaries, if we are to believe the geographers, they communicate with each other and together discharge themselves into the Great Sea. It is thus that, according to their account, the Red Sea and that beyond Gadeira only form one. Then why did God call the different masses of water seas? This is the reason; the waters flowed into one place, and their different accumulations, that is to say, the gulfs that the earth embraced in her folds, received from the Lord the name of seas: North Sea, South Sea, Eastern Sea, and Western Sea. The seas have even their own names, the Euxine, the Propontis, the Hellespont, the Ægean, the Ionian, the Sardinian, the Sicilian, the Tyrrhene, and many other names of which an exact enumeration would now be too long, and quite out of place. See why God calls the gathering together of waters seas. But let us return to the point from which the course of my argument has diverted me.

What trouble you have given me in my previous discourses by asking me why the earth was invisible, why all bodies are naturally endued with colour, and why all colour comes under the sense of sight. And, perhaps, my reason did not appear sufficient to you, when I said that the earth, without being naturally invisible, was so to us, because of the mass of water that entirely covered it. Hear then how Scripture explains itself. Let the waters be gathered together, and let the dry land appear. The veil is lifted and allows the earth, hitherto invisible, to be seen. Perhaps you will ask me new questions. And first, is it not a law of nature that water flows downwards? Why, then, does Scripture refer this to the fiat of the Creator? As long as water is spread over a level surface, it does not flow; it is immovable. But when it finds any slope, immediately the foremost portion falls, then the one that follows takes its place, and that one is itself replaced by a third. Thus incessantly they flow, pressing the one on the other, and the rapidity of their course is in proportion to the mass of water that is being carried, and the declivity down which it is borne. If such is the nature of water, it was supererogatory to command it to gather into one place. It was bound, on account of its natural instability, to fall into the most hollow part of the earth and not to stop until the levelling of its surface. We see how there is nothing so level as the surface of water. Besides, they add, how did the waters receive an order to gather into one place, when we see several seas, separated from each other by the greatest distances? To the first question I reply: Since God's command, you know perfectly well the motion of water; you know that it is unsteady and unstable and falls naturally over declivities and into hollow places. But what was its nature before this command made it take its course? You do not know yourself, and you have heard from no eye-witness. Think, in reality, that a word of God makes the nature, and that this order is for the creature a direction for its future course. There was only one creation of day and night, and since that moment they have incessantly succeeded each other and divided time into equal parts.

3. Let the waters be gathered together. It was ordered that it should be the natural property of water to flow, and in obedience to this order, the waters are never weary in their course. In speaking thus, I have only in view the flowing property of waters. Some flow of their own accord like springs and rivers, others are collected and stationary. But I speak now of flowing waters. Let the waters be gathered together unto one place. Have you never thought, when standing near a spring which is sending forth water abundantly, Who makes this water spring from the bowels of the earth? Who forced it up? Where are the store-houses which send it forth? To what place is it hastening? How is it that it is never exhausted here, and never overflows there? All this comes from that first command; it was for the waters a signal for their course.

In all the story of the waters remember this first order, let the waters be gathered together. To take their assigned places they were obliged to flow, and, once arrived there, to remain in their place and not to go farther. Thus in the language of Ecclesiastes, All the waters run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. Ecclesiastes 1:6-7 Waters flow in virtue of God's order, and the sea is enclosed in limits according to this first law, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place. For fear the water should spread beyond its bed, and in its successive invasions cover one by one all countries, and end by flooding the whole earth, it received the order to gather unto one place. Thus we often see the furious sea raising mighty waves to the heaven, and, when once it has touched the shore, break its impetuosity in foam and retire. Fear ye not me, says the Lord....which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea. Jeremiah 5:22 A grain of sand, the weakest thing possible, curbs the violence of the ocean. For what would prevent the Red Sea from invading the whole of Egypt, which lies lower, and uniting itself to the other sea which bathes its shores, were it not fettered by the fiat of the Creator? And if I say that Egypt is lower than the Red Sea, it is because experience has convinced us of it every time that an attempt has been made to join the sea of Egypt to the Indian Ocean, of which the Red Sea is a part. Thus we have renounced this enterprise, as also have the Egyptian Sesostris, who conceived the idea, and Darius the Mede who afterwards wished to carry it out.

I report this fact to make you understand the full force of the command, Let the waters be gathered unto one place; that is to say, let there be no other gathering, and, once gathered, let them not disperse.

And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters He called Seas. Previously, indeed, He called this entire more solid part of the world Earth for distinction, when He said: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth; and the Earth was without form and void. But now, after the world began to be formed, and when the waters retreated to their place, the surface of the Earth appeared. For distinction of the part still covered by waters, the other portion, which was dry, received the name Earth; hence it was called in Latin, because it is trodden by the feet of living creatures. The gatherings of the waters are called Seas, namely for the most part. For also among the Hebrews, all gatherings of waters, whether salty or fresh, are said to be called Seas. Aptly, He who first, because of the continuation of all waters on Earth, stated they were gathered into one place, now also names their gatherings of waters in the plural, and says these are called Seas in the plural, because of their manifold inlets, which themselves acquire names according to the regions.

And God saw that it was good. The Earth was not yet producing herbs, nor had it yet, whether by itself or the waters, brought forth living creatures, and yet God is said to have seen that it was good, with the waters receding and the dry land appearing. Because the Creator of waters and the Estimator of the universe, foreseeing what was to be, praises as perfect that which was still in the beginning of the first work. And it is no wonder for Him, for whom the perfection of things lies not in the completion of the work but in His predestined will.

(10) And he called the gatherings of waters seas. It should be noted that every gathering of waters, whether they be salty or fresh, according to the language of the Hebrews, are called seas. Therefore, Porphyry falsely accuses the Evangelists of ignorance in performing a miracle, because the Lord walked on the sea, that he called the lake of Genezareth a sea, when every lake and gathering of waters are called seas.

The dry land, after the water was removed from it, did not continue further as "dry land" but was named "earth" by God. In this manner also our bodies, if this separation from them takes place, will no longer remain "dry land." They will, on the contrary, be called "earth" because they can now bear fruit for God.

It was when the waters were withdrawn into their hollow abysses that the dry land became conspicuous, which was hitherto covered with its watery envelope. Then it forthwith becomes "visible," God saying, "Let the water be gathered together into one mass, and let the dry land appear." "Appear," says He, not "be made." It had been already made, only in its invisible condition it was then waiting to appear. "Dry," because it was about to become such by its severance from the moisture, but yet "land." "And God called the dry land Earth," not Matter. And so, when it afterwards attains its perfection, it ceases to be accounted void, when God declares, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after its kind, and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself, after its kind."

And God called the dry land, Earth: According to Augustine (De Gen. Contr. Manich. i), primary matter is meant by the word earth, where first mentioned, but in the present passage it is to be taken for the element itself. Again it may be said with Basil (Hom. iv in Hexaem.), that the earth is mentioned in the first passage in respect of its nature, but here in respect of its principal property, namely, dryness. Wherefore it is written: "He called the dry land, Earth." It may also be said with Rabbi Moses, that the expression, "He called," denotes throughout an equivocal use of the name imposed. Thus we find it said at first that "He called the light Day": for the reason that later on a period of twenty-four hours is also called day, where it is said that "there was evening and morning, one day." In like manner it is said that "the firmament," that is, the air, "He called heaven": for that which was first created was also called "heaven." And here, again, it is said that "the dry land," that is, the part from which the waters had withdrawn, "He called, Earth," as distinct from the sea; although the name earth is equally applied to that which is covered with waters or not. So by the expression "He called" we are to understand throughout that the nature or property He bestowed corresponded to the name He gave. The gathering together of the waters He called Seas: That the waters occupied more places than one seems to be implied by the words that follow, "The gathering together of the waters He called Seas."

Here we must note the plan of the Ruler of the world. Since the crops and trees created are different in species from earth and water and so cannot be counted among the elements, the decree by which they are to proceed from the earth is given separately, and the customary phrases describing their creation are put down separately. Thus Scripture says, "And so it was done," and then there is a repetition of what was done. There is separate mention also of the fact that God saw that it was good. But since these creatures cling fast to the earth and are joined to it by their roots, God wished them also to belong to the same day [of creation].

1. At the shows in the circus the spectator must join in the efforts of the athletes. This the laws of the show indicate, for they prescribe that all should have the head uncovered when present at the stadium. The object of this, in my opinion, is that each one there should not only be a spectator of the athletes, but be, in a certain measure, a true athlete himself. Thus, to investigate the great and prodigious show of creation, to understand supreme and ineffable wisdom, you must bring personal light for the contemplation of the wonders which I spread before your eyes, and help me, according to your power, in this struggle, where you are not so much judges as fellow combatants, for fear lest the truth might escape you, and lest my error might turn to your common prejudice. Why these words? It is because we propose to study the world as a whole, and to consider the universe, not by the light of worldly wisdom, but by that with which God wills to enlighten His servant, when He speaks to him in person and without enigmas. It is because it is absolutely necessary that all lovers of great and grand shows should bring a mind well prepared to study them. If sometimes, on a bright night, while gazing with watchful eyes on the inexpressible beauty of the stars, you have thought of the Creator of all things; if you have asked yourself who it is that has dotted heaven with such flowers, and why visible things are even more useful than beautiful; if sometimes, in the day, you have studied the marvels of light, if you have raised yourself by visible things to the invisible Being, then you are a well prepared auditor, and you can take your place in this august and blessed amphitheatre. Come in the same way that any one not knowing a town is taken by the hand and led through it; thus I am going to lead you, like strangers, through the mysterious marvels of this great city of the universe. Our first country was in this great city, whence the murderous dæmon whose enticements seduced man to slavery expelled us. There you will see man's first origin and his immediate seizure by death, brought forth by sin, the first born of the evil spirit. You will know that you are formed of earth, but the work of God's hands; much weaker than the brute, but ordained to command beings without reason and soul; inferior as regards natural advantages, but, thanks to the privilege of reason, capable of raising yourself to heaven. If we are penetrated by these truths, we shall know ourselves, we shall know God, we shall adore our Creator, we shall serve our Master, we shall glorify our Father, we shall love our Sustainer, we shall bless our Benefactor, we shall not cease to honour the Prince of present and future life, Who, by the riches that He showers upon us in this world, makes us believe in His promises and uses present good things to strengthen our expectation of the future. Truly, if such are the good things of time, what will be those of eternity? If such is the beauty of visible things, what shall we think of invisible things? If the grandeur of heaven exceeds the measure of human intelligence, what mind shall be able to trace the nature of the everlasting? If the sun, subject to corruption, is so beautiful, so grand, so rapid in its movement, so invariable in its course; if its grandeur is in such perfect harmony with and due proportion to the universe: if, by the beauty of its nature, it shines like a brilliant eye in the middle of creation; if finally, one cannot tire of contemplating it, what will be the beauty of the Sun of Righteousness? If the blind man suffers from not seeing the material sun, what a deprivation is it for the sinner not to enjoy the true light!

9. But what need is there to continue, when in the same fig tree we have the most opposite flavours, as bitter in the sap as it is sweet in the fruit? And in the vine, is it not as sweet in the grapes as it is astringent in the branches? And what a variety of colour! Look how in a meadow this same water becomes red in one flower, purple in another, blue in this one, white in that. And this diversity of colours, is it to be compared to that of scents? But I perceive that an insatiable curiosity is drawing out my discourse beyond its limits. If I do not stop and recall it to the law of creation, day will fail me while making you see great wisdom in small things.

Let the earth bring forth the fruit tree yielding fruit. Immediately the tops of the mountains were covered with foliage: paradises were artfully laid out, and an infinitude of plants embellished the banks of the rivers. Some were for the adornment of man's table; some to nourish animals with their fruits and their leaves; some to provide medicinal help by giving us their sap, their juice, their chips, their bark or their fruit. In a word, the experience of ages, profiting from every chance, has not been able to discover anything useful, which the penetrating foresight of the Creator did not first perceive and call into existence. Therefore, when you see the trees in our gardens, or those of the forest, those which love the water or the land, those which bear flowers, or those which do not flower, I should like to see you recognising grandeur even in small objects, adding incessantly to your admiration of, and redoubling your love for the Creator. Ask yourself why He has made some trees evergreen and others deciduous; why, among the first, some lose their leaves, and others always keep them. Thus the olive and the pine shed their leaves, although they renew them insensibly and never appear to be despoiled of their verdure. The palm tree, on the contrary, from its birth to its death, is always adorned with the same foliage. Think again of the double life of the tamarisk; it is an aquatic plant, and yet it covers the desert. Thus, Jeremiah compares it to the worst of characters— the double character.

10. Let the earth bring forth. This short command was in a moment a vast nature, an elaborate system. Swifter than thought it produced the countless qualities of plants. It is this command which, still at this day, is imposed on the earth, and in the course of each year displays all the strength of its power to produce herbs, seeds and trees. Like tops, which after the first impulse, continue their evolutions, turning upon themselves when once fixed in their centre; thus nature, receiving the impulse of this first command, follows without interruption the course of ages, until the consummation of all things. Let us all hasten to attain to it, full of fruit and of good works; and thus, planted in the house of the Lord we shall flourish in the court of our God, in our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

8. Plants reproduce themselves in so many different ways, that we can only touch upon the chief among them. As to fruits themselves, who could review their varieties, their forms, their colours, the peculiar flavour, and the use of each of them? Why do some fruits ripen when exposed bare to the rays of the sun, while others fill out while encased in shells? Trees of which the fruit is tender have, like the fig tree, a thick shade of leaves; those, on the contrary, of which the fruits are stouter, like the nut, are only covered by a light shade. The delicacy of the first requires more care; if the latter had a thicker case, the shade of the leaves would be harmful. Why is the vine leaf serrated, if not that the bunches of grapes may at the same time resist the injuries of the air and receive through the openings all the rays of the sun? Nothing has been done without motive, nothing by chance. All shows ineffable wisdom.

What discourse can touch all? Can the human mind make an exact review, remark every distinctive property, exhibit all the differences, unveil with certainty so many mysterious causes? The same water, pumped up through the root, nourishes in a different way the root itself, the bark of the trunk, the wood and the pith. It becomes leaf, it distributes itself among the branches and twigs and makes the fruits swell— it gives to the plant its gum and its sap. Who will explain to us the difference between all these? There is a difference between the gum of the mastich and the juice of the balsam, a difference between that which distils in Egypt and Libya from the fennel. Amber is, they say, the crystallized sap of plants. And for a proof, see the bits of straws and little insects which have been caught in the sap while still liquid and imprisoned there. In one word, no one without long experience could find terms to express the virtue of it. How, again, does this water become wine in the vine, and oil in the olive tree? Yet what is marvellous is, not to see it become sweet in one fruit, fat and unctuous in another, but to see in sweet fruits an inexpressible variety of flavour. There is one sweetness of the grape, another of the apple, another of the fig, another of the date. I shall willingly give you the gratification of continuing this research. How is it that this same water has sometimes a sweet taste, softened by its remaining in certain plants, and at other times stings the palate because it has become acid by passing through others? How is it, again, that it attains extreme bitterness, and makes the mouth rough when it is found in wormwood and in scammony? That it has in acorns and dogwood a sharp and rough flavour? That in the turpentine tree and the walnut tree it is changed into a soft and oily matter?

3. Up to this point, the order in which plants shoot bears witness to their first arrangement. Every herb, every plant proceeds from a germ. If, like the couch-grass and the crocus, it throws out a shoot from its root and from this lower protuberance, it must always germinate and start outwards. If it proceeds from a seed, there is still, by necessity, first a germ, then the sprout, then green foliage, and finally the fruit which ripens upon a stalk hitherto dry and thick. Let the earth bring forth grass. When the seed falls into the earth, which contains the right combination of heat and moisture, it swells and becomes porous, and, grasping the surrounding earth, attracts to itself all that is suitable for it and that has affinity to it. These particles of earth, however small they may be, as they fall and insinuate themselves into all the pores of the seed, broaden its bulk and make it send forth roots below, and shoot upwards, sending forth stalks no less numerous than the roots. As the germ is always growing warm, the moisture, pumped up through the roots, and helped by the attraction of heat, draws a proper amount of nourishment from the soil, and distributes it to the stem, to the bark, to the husk, to the seed itself and to the beards with which it is armed. It is owing to these successive accretions that each plant attains its natural development, as well grain as vegetables, herbs or brushwood. A single plant, a blade of grass is sufficient to occupy all your intelligence in the contemplation of the skill which produced it. Why is the wheat stalk better with joints? Are they not like fastenings, which help it to bear easily the weight of the ear, when it is swollen with fruit and bends towards the earth? Thus, while oats, which have no weight to bear at the top, are without these supports, nature has provided them for wheat. It has hidden the grain in a case, so that it may not be exposed to birds' pillage, and has furnished it with a rampart of barbs, which, like darts, protect it against the attacks of tiny creatures.

4. What shall I say? What shall I leave unsaid? In the rich treasures of creation it is difficult to select what is most precious; the loss of what is omitted is too severe. Let the earth bring forth grass; and instantly, with useful plants, appear noxious plants; with grain, hemlock; with the other nutritious plants, hellebore, monkshood, mandrake and the juice of the poppy. What then? Shall we show no gratitude for so many beneficial gifts, and reproach the Creator for those which may be harmful to our life? And shall we not reflect that all has not been created in view of the wants of our bellies? The nourishing plants, which are destined for our use, are close at hand, and known by all the world. But in creation nothing exists without a reason. The blood of the bull is a poison: ought this animal then, whose strength is so serviceable to man, not to have been created, or, if created, to have been bloodless? But you have sense enough in yourself to keep you free from deadly things. What! Sheep and goats know how to turn away from what threatens their life, discerning danger by instinct alone: and you, who have reason and the art of medicine to supply what you need, and the experience of your forebears to tell you to avoid all that is dangerous, you tell me that you find it difficult to keep yourself from poisons! But not a single thing has been created without reason, not a single thing is useless. One serves as food to some animal; medicine has found in another a relief for one of our maladies. Thus the starling eats hemlock, its constitution rendering it insusceptible to the action of the poison. Thanks to the tenuity of the pores of its heart, the malignant juice is no sooner swallowed than it is digested, before its chill can attack the vital parts. The quail, thanks to its peculiar temperament, whereby it escapes the dangerous effects, feeds on hellebore. There are even circumstances where poisons are useful to men; with mandrake doctors give us sleep; with opium they lull violent pain. Hemlock has ere now been used to appease the rage of unruly diseases; and many times hellebore has taken away long standing disease. These plants, then, instead of making you accuse the Creator, give you a new subject for gratitude.

5. Let the earth bring forth grass. What spontaneous provision is included in these words—that which is present in the root, in the plant itself, and in the fruit, as well as that which our labour and husbandry add! God did not command the earth immediately to give forth seed and fruit, but to produce germs, to grow green, and to arrive at maturity in the seed; so that this first command teaches nature what she has to do in the course of ages. But, they ask, is it true that the earth produces seed after his kind, when often, after having sown wheat, we gather black grain? This is not a change of kind, but an alteration, a disease of the grain. It has not ceased to be wheat; it is on account of having been burnt that it is black, as one can learn from its name. If a severe frost had burnt it, it would have had another colour and a different flavour. They even pretend that, if it could find suitable earth and moderate temperature, it might return to its first form. Thus, you find nothing in nature contrary to the divine command. As to the darnel and all those bastard grains which mix themselves with the harvest, the tares of Scripture, far from being a variety of grain, have their own origin and their own kind; image of those who alter the doctrine of the Lord and, not being rightly instructed in the word, but, corrupted by the teaching of the evil one, mix themselves with the sound body of the Church to spread their pernicious errors secretly among purer souls. The Lord thus compares the perfection of those who believe in Him to the growth of seed, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how. For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full grain in the ear. Matthew 4:26-28 Let the earth bring forth grass. In a moment earth began by germination to obey the laws of the Creator, completed every stage of growth, and brought germs to perfection. The meadows were covered with deep grass, the fertile plains quivered with harvests, and the movement of the grain was like the waving of the sea. Every plant, every herb, the smallest shrub, the least vegetable, arose from the earth in all its luxuriance. There was no failure in this first vegetation: no husbandman's inexperience, no inclemency of the weather, nothing could injure it; then the sentence of condemnation was not fettering the earth's fertility. All this was before the sin which condemned us to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow.

Now there is such a variety of fruits in fruit trees that it is beyond all expression; a variety not only in the fruits of trees of different families, but even in those of the same species, if it be true, as gardeners say, that the sex of a tree influences the character of its fruits. They distinguish male from female in palms; sometimes we see those which they call female lower their branches, as though with passionate desire, and invite the embraces of the male. Then, those who take care of these plants shake over these palms the fertilizing dust from the male palm-tree, the psen as they call it: the tree appears to share the pleasures of enjoyment; then it raises its branches, and its foliage resumes its usual form. The same is said of the fig tree. Some plant wild fig trees near cultivated fig trees, and there are others who, to remedy the weakness of the productive fig tree of our gardens, attach to the branches unripe figs and so retain the fruit which had already begun to drop and to be lost. What lesson does nature here give us? That we must often borrow, even from those who are strangers to the faith, a certain vigour to show forth good works. If you see outside the Church, in pagan life, or in the midst of a pernicious heresy, the example of virtue and fidelity to moral laws, redouble your efforts to resemble the productive fig tree, who by the side of the wild fig tree, gains strength, prevents the fruit from being shed, and nourishes it with more care.

At this command every copse was thickly planted; all the trees, fir, cedar, cypress, pine, rose to their greatest height, the shrubs were straightway clothed with thick foliage. The plants called crown-plants, roses, myrtles, laurels, did not exist; in one moment they came into being, each one with its distinctive peculiarities. Most marked differences separated them from other plants, and each one was distinguished by a character of its own. But then the rose was without thorns; since then the thorn has been added to its beauty, to make us feel that sorrow is very near to pleasure, and to remind us of our sin, which condemned the earth to produce thorns and caltrops. But, they say, the earth has received the command to produce trees yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, and we see many trees which have neither fruit, nor seed. What shall we reply? First, that only the more important trees are mentioned; and then, that a careful examination will show us that every tree has seed, or some property which takes the place of it. The black poplar, the willow, the elm, the white poplar, all the trees of this family, do not produce any apparent fruit; however, an attentive observer finds seed in each of them. This grain which is at the base of the leaf, and which those who busy themselves with inventing words call mischos, has the property of seed. And there are trees which reproduce by their branches, throwing out roots from them. Perhaps we ought even to consider as seeds the saplings which spring from the roots of a tree: for cultivators tear them out to multiply the species. But, we have already said, it is chiefly a question of the trees which contribute most to our life; which offer their various fruits to man and provide him with plentiful nourishment. Such is the vine, which produces wine to make glad the heart of man; such is the olive tree, whose fruit brightens his face with oil. How many things in nature are combined in the same plant! In a vine, roots, green and flexible branches, which spread themselves far over the earth, buds, tendrils, bunches of sour grapes and ripe grapes. The sight of a vine, when observed by an intelligent eye, serves to remind you of your nature. Without doubt you remember the parable where the Lord calls Himself a vine and His Father the husbandman, and every one of us who are grafted by faith into the Church the branches. He invites us to produce fruits in abundance, for fear lest our sterility should condemn us to the fire. cf.John 15:1-6 He constantly compares our souls to vines. My well beloved, says He, has a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill, Isaiah 5:1 and elsewhere, I have planted a vineyard and hedged it round about. Matthew 21:33 Evidently He calls human souls His vine, those souls whom He has surrounded with the authority of His precepts and a guard of angels. The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him. And further: He has planted for us, so to say, props, in establishing in His Church apostles, prophets, teachers; and raising our thoughts by the example of the blessed in olden times, He has not allowed them to drag on the earth and be crushed under foot. He wishes that the claspings of love, like the tendrils of the vine, should attach us to our neighbours and make us rest on them, so that, in our continual aspirations towards heaven, we may imitate these vines, which raise themselves to the tops of the tallest trees. He also asks us to allow ourselves to be dug about; and that is what the soul does when it disembarrasses itself from the cares of the world, which are a weight on our hearts. He, then, who is freed from carnal affections and from the love of riches, and, far from being dazzled by them, disdains and despises this miserable vain glory, is, so to say, dug about and at length breathes, free from the useless weight of earthly thoughts. Nor must we, in the spirit of the parable, put forth too much wood, that is to say, live with ostentation, and gain the applause of the world; we must bring forth fruits, keeping the proof of our works for the husbandman. Be like a green olive tree in the house of God, never destitute of hope, but decked through faith with the bloom of salvation. Thus you will resemble the eternal verdure of this plant and will rival it in fruitfulness, if each day sees you giving abundantly in alms.

2. Let the earth bring forth grass yielding seed after his kind. So that although some kind of grass is of service to animals, even their gain is our gain too, and seeds are especially designed for our use. Such is the true meaning of the words that I have quoted. Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind. In this manner we can re-establish the order of the words, of which the construction seems faulty in the actual version, and the economy of nature will be rigorously observed. In fact, first comes germination, then verdure, then the growth of the plant, which after having attained its full growth arrives at perfection in seed.

How then, they say, can Scripture describe all the plants of the earth as seed-bearing, when the reed, couch-grass, mint, crocus, garlic, and the flowering rush and countless other species, produce no seed? To this we reply that many vegetables have their seminal virtue in the lower part and in the roots. The need, for example, after its annual growth sends forth a protuberance from its roots, which takes the place of seed for future trees. Numbers of other vegetables are the same and all over the earth reproduce by the roots. Nothing then is truer than that each plant produces its seed or contains some seminal virtue; this is what is meant by after its kind. So that the shoot of a reed does not produce an olive tree, but from a reed grows another reed, and from one sort of seed a plant of the same sort always germinates. Thus, all which sprang from the earth, in its first bringing forth, is kept the same to our time, thanks to the constant reproduction of kind.

Let the earth bring forth. See how, at this short word, at this brief command, the cold and sterile earth travailed and hastened to bring forth its fruit, as it cast away its sad and dismal covering to clothe itself in a more brilliant robe, proud of its proper adornment and displaying the infinite variety of plants.

I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that everywhere, wherever you may be, the least plant may bring to you the clear remembrance of the Creator. If you see the grass of the fields, think of human nature, and remember the comparison of the wise Isaiah. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. Truly the rapid flow of life, the short gratification and pleasure that an instant of happiness gives a man, all wonderfully suit the comparison of the prophet. Today he is vigorous in body, fattened by luxury, and in the prime of life, with complexion fair like the flowers, strong and powerful and of irresistible energy; tomorrow and he will be an object of pity, withered by age or exhausted by sickness. Another shines in all the splendour of a brilliant fortune, and around him are a multitude of flatterers, an escort of false friends on the track of his good graces; a crowd of kinsfolk, but of no true kin; a swarm of servants who crowd after him to provide for his food and for all his needs; and in his comings and goings this innumerable suite, which he drags after him, excites the envy of all whom he meets. To fortune may be added power in the State, honours bestowed by the imperial throne, the government of a province, or the command of armies; a herald who precedes him is crying in a loud voice; lictors right and left also fill his subjects with awe, blows, confiscations, banishments, imprisonments, and all the means by which he strikes intolerable terror into all whom he has to rule. And what then? One night, a fever, a pleurisy, or an inflammation of the lungs, snatches away this man from the midst of men, stripped in a moment of all his stage accessories, and all this, his glory, is proved a mere dream. Therefore the Prophet has compared human glory to the weakest flower.

It was deep wisdom that commanded the earth, when it rested after discharging the weight of the waters, first to bring forth grass, then wood as we see it doing still at this time. For the voice that was then heard and this command were as a natural and permanent law for it; it gave fertility and the power to produce fruit for all ages to come; Let the earth bring forth. The production of vegetables shows first germination. When the germs begin to sprout they form grass; this develops and becomes a plant, which insensibly receives its different articulations, and reaches its maturity in the seed. Thus all things which sprout and are green are developed. Let the earth bring forth green grass. Let the earth bring forth by itself without having any need of help from without. Some consider the sun as the source of all productiveness on the earth. It is, they say, the action of the sun's heat which attracts the vital force from the centre of the earth to the surface. The reason why the adornment of the earth was before the sun is the following; that those who worship the sun, as the source of life, may renounce their error. If they be well persuaded that the earth was adorned before the genesis of the sun, they will retract their unbounded admiration for it, because they see grass and plants vegetate before it rose. If then the food for the flocks was prepared, did our race appear less worthy of a like solicitude? He, who provided pasture for horses and cattle, thought before all of your riches and pleasures. If he fed your cattle, it was to provide for all the needs of your life. And what object was there in the bringing forth of grain, if not for your subsistence? Moreover, many grasses and vegetables serve for the food of man.

7. But let us return to the examination of the ingenious contrivances of creation. How many trees then arose, some to give us their fruits, others to roof our houses, others to build our ships, others to feed our fires! What a variety in the disposition of their several parts! And yet, how difficult is it to find the distinctive property of each of them, and to grasp the difference which separates them from other species. Some strike deep roots, others do not; some shoot straight up and have only one stem, others appear to love the earth and, from their root upwards, divide into several shoots. Those whose long branches stretch up afar into the air, have also deep roots which spread within a large circumference, a true foundation placed by nature to support the weight of the tree. What variety there is in bark! Some plants have smooth bark, others rough, some have only one layer, others several. What a marvellous thing! You may find in the youth and age of plants resemblances to those of man. Young and vigorous, their bark is distended; when they grow old, it is rough and wrinkled. Cut one, it sends forth new buds; the other remains henceforward sterile and as if struck with a mortal wound. But further, it has been observed that pines, cut down, or even submitted to the action of fire, are changed into a forest of oaks. We know besides that the industry of agriculturists remedies the natural defects of certain trees. Thus the sharp pomegranate and bitter almonds, if the trunk of the tree is pierced near the root to introduce into the middle of the pith a fat plug of pine, lose the acidity of their juice, and become delicious fruits. Let not the sinner then despair of himself, when he thinks, if agriculture can change the juices of plants, the efforts of the soul to arrive at virtue, can certainly triumph over all infirmities.

1. It was deep wisdom that commanded the earth, when it rested after discharging the weight of the waters, first to bring forth grass, then wood as we see it doing still at this time. For the voice that was then heard and this command were as a natural and permanent law for it; it gave fertility and the power to produce fruit for all ages to come; Let the earth bring forth. The production of vegetables shows first germination. When the germs begin to sprout they form grass; this develops and becomes a plant, which insensibly receives its different articulations, and reaches its maturity in the seed. Thus all things which sprout and are green are developed. Let the earth bring forth green grass. Let the earth bring forth by itself without having any need of help from without. Some consider the sun as the source of all productiveness on the earth. It is, they say, the action of the sun's heat which attracts the vital force from the centre of the earth to the surface. The reason why the adornment of the earth was before the sun is the following; that those who worship the sun, as the source of life, may renounce their error. If they be well persuaded that the earth was adorned before the genesis of the sun, they will retract their unbounded admiration for it, because they see grass and plants vegetate before it rose. If then the food for the flocks was prepared, did our race appear less worthy of a like solicitude? He, who provided pasture for horses and cattle, thought before all of your riches and pleasures. If he fed your cattle, it was to provide for all the needs of your life. And what object was there in the bringing forth of grain, if not for your subsistence? Moreover, many grasses and vegetables serve for the food of man. 2. Let the earth bring forth grass yielding seed after his kind. So that although some kind of grass is of service to animals, even their gain is our gain too, and seeds are especially designed for our use. Such is the true meaning of the words that I have quoted. Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind. In this manner we can re-establish the order of the words, of which the construction seems faulty in the actual version, and the economy of nature will be rigorously observed. In fact, first comes germination, then verdure, then the growth of the plant, which after having attained its full growth arrives at perfection in seed. How then, they say, can Scripture describe all the plants of the earth as seed-bearing, when the reed, couch-grass, mint, crocus, garlic, and the flowering rush and countless other species, produce no seed? To this we reply that many vegetables have their seminal virtue in the lower part and in the roots. The need, for example, after its annual growth sends forth a protuberance from its roots, which takes the place of seed for future trees. Numbers of other vegetables are the same and all over the earth reproduce by the roots. Nothing then is truer than that each plant produces its seed or contains some seminal virtue; this is what is meant by after its kind. So that the shoot of a reed does not produce an olive tree, but from a reed grows another reed, and from one sort of seed a plant of the same sort always germinates. Thus, all which sprang from the earth, in its first bringing forth, is kept the same to our time, thanks to the constant reproduction of kind. Let the earth bring forth. See how, at this short word, at this brief command, the cold and sterile earth travailed and hastened to bring forth its fruit, as it cast away its sad and dismal covering to clothe itself in a more brilliant robe, proud of its proper adornment and displaying the infinite variety of plants. I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that everywhere, wherever you may be, the least plant may bring to you the clear remembrance of the Creator. If you see the grass of the fields, think of human nature, and remember the comparison of the wise Isaiah. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. Truly the rapid flow of life, the short gratification and pleasure that an instant of happiness gives a man, all wonderfully suit the comparison of the prophet. Today he is vigorous in body, fattened by luxury, and in the prime of life, with complexion fair like the flowers, strong and powerful and of irresistible energy; tomorrow and he will be an object of pity, withered by age or exhausted by sickness. Another shines in all the splendour of a brilliant fortune, and around him are a multitude of flatterers, an escort of false friends on the track of his good graces; a crowd of kinsfolk, but of no true kin; a swarm of servants who crowd after him to provide for his food and for all his needs; and in his comings and goings this innumerable suite, which he drags after him, excites the envy of all whom he meets. To fortune may be added power in the State, honours bestowed by the imperial throne, the government of a province, or the command of armies; a herald who precedes him is crying in a loud voice; lictors right and left also fill his subjects with awe, blows, confiscations, banishments, imprisonments, and all the means by which he strikes intolerable terror into all whom he has to rule. And what then? One night, a fever, a pleurisy, or an inflammation of the lungs, snatches away this man from the midst of men, stripped in a moment of all his stage accessories, and all this, his glory, is proved a mere dream. Therefore the Prophet has compared human glory to the weakest flower. 3. Up to this point, the order in which plants shoot bears witness to their first arrangement. Every herb, every plant proceeds from a germ. If, like the couch-grass and the crocus, it throws out a shoot from its root and from this lower protuberance, it must always germinate and start outwards. If it proceeds from a seed, there is still, by necessity, first a germ, then the sprout, then green foliage, and finally the fruit which ripens upon a stalk hitherto dry and thick. Let the earth bring forth grass. When the seed falls into the earth, which contains the right combination of heat and moisture, it swells and becomes porous, and, grasping the surrounding earth, attracts to itself all that is suitable for it and that has affinity to it. These particles of earth, however small they may be, as they fall and insinuate themselves into all the pores of the seed, broaden its bulk and make it send forth roots below, and shoot upwards, sending forth stalks no less numerous than the roots. As the germ is always growing warm, the moisture, pumped up through the roots, and helped by the attraction of heat, draws a proper amount of nourishment from the soil, and distributes it to the stem, to the bark, to the husk, to the seed itself and to the beards with which it is armed. It is owing to these successive accretions that each plant attains its natural development, as well grain as vegetables, herbs or brushwood. A single plant, a blade of grass is sufficient to occupy all your intelligence in the contemplation of the skill which produced it. Why is the wheat stalk better with joints? Are they not like fastenings, which help it to bear easily the weight of the ear, when it is swollen with fruit and bends towards the earth? Thus, while oats, which have no weight to bear at the top, are without these supports, nature has provided them for wheat. It has hidden the grain in a case, so that it may not be exposed to birds' pillage, and has furnished it with a rampart of barbs, which, like darts, protect it against the attacks of tiny creatures. 4. What shall I say? What shall I leave unsaid? In the rich treasures of creation it is difficult to select what is most precious; the loss of what is omitted is too severe. Let the earth bring forth grass; and instantly, with useful plants, appear noxious plants; with grain, hemlock; with the other nutritious plants, hellebore, monkshood, mandrake and the juice of the poppy. What then? Shall we show no gratitude for so many beneficial gifts, and reproach the Creator for those which may be harmful to our life? And shall we not reflect that all has not been created in view of the wants of our bellies? The nourishing plants, which are destined for our use, are close at hand, and known by all the world. But in creation nothing exists without a reason. The blood of the bull is a poison: ought this animal then, whose strength is so serviceable to man, not to have been created, or, if created, to have been bloodless? But you have sense enough in yourself to keep you free from deadly things. What! Sheep and goats know how to turn away from what threatens their life, discerning danger by instinct alone: and you, who have reason and the art of medicine to supply what you need, and the experience of your forebears to tell you to avoid all that is dangerous, you tell me that you find it difficult to keep yourself from poisons! But not a single thing has been created without reason, not a single thing is useless. One serves as food to some animal; medicine has found in another a relief for one of our maladies. Thus the starling eats hemlock, its constitution rendering it insusceptible to the action of the poison. Thanks to the tenuity of the pores of its heart, the malignant juice is no sooner swallowed than it is digested, before its chill can attack the vital parts. The quail, thanks to its peculiar temperament, whereby it escapes the dangerous effects, feeds on hellebore. There are even circumstances where poisons are useful to men; with mandrake doctors give us sleep; with opium they lull violent pain. Hemlock has ere now been used to appease the rage of unruly diseases; and many times hellebore has taken away long standing disease. These plants, then, instead of making you accuse the Creator, give you a new subject for gratitude. 5. Let the earth bring forth grass. What spontaneous provision is included in these words—that which is present in the root, in the plant itself, and in the fruit, as well as that which our labour and husbandry add! God did not command the earth immediately to give forth seed and fruit, but to produce germs, to grow green, and to arrive at maturity in the seed; so that this first command teaches nature what she has to do in the course of ages. But, they ask, is it true that the earth produces seed after his kind, when often, after having sown wheat, we gather black grain? This is not a change of kind, but an alteration, a disease of the grain. It has not ceased to be wheat; it is on account of having been burnt that it is black, as one can learn from its name. If a severe frost had burnt it, it would have had another colour and a different flavour. They even pretend that, if it could find suitable earth and moderate temperature, it might return to its first form. Thus, you find nothing in nature contrary to the divine command. As to the darnel and all those bastard grains which mix themselves with the harvest, the tares of Scripture, far from being a variety of grain, have their own origin and their own kind; image of those who alter the doctrine of the Lord and, not being rightly instructed in the word, but, corrupted by the teaching of the evil one, mix themselves with the sound body of the Church to spread their pernicious errors secretly among purer souls. The Lord thus compares the perfection of those who believe in Him to the growth of seed, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how. For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full grain in the ear. Matthew 4:26-28 Let the earth bring forth grass. In a moment earth began by germination to obey the laws of the Creator, completed every stage of growth, and brought germs to perfection. The meadows were covered with deep grass, the fertile plains quivered with harvests, and the movement of the grain was like the waving of the sea. Every plant, every herb, the smallest shrub, the least vegetable, arose from the earth in all its luxuriance. There was no failure in this first vegetation: no husbandman's inexperience, no inclemency of the weather, nothing could injure it; then the sentence of condemnation was not fettering the earth's fertility. All this was before the sin which condemned us to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow. 6. Let the earth, the Creator adds, bring forth the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself. Genesis 1:11 At this command every copse was thickly planted; all the trees, fir, cedar, cypress, pine, rose to their greatest height, the shrubs were straightway clothed with thick foliage. The plants called crown-plants, roses, myrtles, laurels, did not exist; in one moment they came into being, each one with its distinctive peculiarities. Most marked differences separated them from other plants, and each one was distinguished by a character of its own. But then the rose was without thorns; since then the thorn has been added to its beauty, to make us feel that sorrow is very near to pleasure, and to remind us of our sin, which condemned the earth to produce thorns and caltrops. But, they say, the earth has received the command to produce trees yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, and we see many trees which have neither fruit, nor seed. What shall we reply? First, that only the more important trees are mentioned; and then, that a careful examination will show us that every tree has seed, or some property which takes the place of it. The black poplar, the willow, the elm, the white poplar, all the trees of this family, do not produce any apparent fruit; however, an attentive observer finds seed in each of them. This grain which is at the base of the leaf, and which those who busy themselves with inventing words call mischos, has the property of seed. And there are trees which reproduce by their branches, throwing out roots from them. Perhaps we ought even to consider as seeds the saplings which spring from the roots of a tree: for cultivators tear them out to multiply the species. But, we have already said, it is chiefly a question of the trees which contribute most to our life; which offer their various fruits to man and provide him with plentiful nourishment. Such is the vine, which produces wine to make glad the heart of man; such is the olive tree, whose fruit brightens his face with oil. How many things in nature are combined in the same plant! In a vine, roots, green and flexible branches, which spread themselves far over the earth, buds, tendrils, bunches of sour grapes and ripe grapes. The sight of a vine, when observed by an intelligent eye, serves to remind you of your nature. Without doubt you remember the parable where the Lord calls Himself a vine and His Father the husbandman, and every one of us who are grafted by faith into the Church the branches. He invites us to produce fruits in abundance, for fear lest our sterility should condemn us to the fire. cf.John 15:1-6 He constantly compares our souls to vines. My well beloved, says He, has a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill, Isaiah 5:1 and elsewhere, I have planted a vineyard and hedged it round about. Matthew 21:33 Evidently He calls human souls His vine, those souls whom He has surrounded with the authority of His precepts and a guard of angels. The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him. And further: He has planted for us, so to say, props, in establishing in His Church apostles, prophets, teachers; and raising our thoughts by the example of the blessed in olden times, He has not allowed them to drag on the earth and be crushed under foot. He wishes that the claspings of love, like the tendrils of the vine, should attach us to our neighbours and make us rest on them, so that, in our continual aspirations towards heaven, we may imitate these vines, which raise themselves to the tops of the tallest trees. He also asks us to allow ourselves to be dug about; and that is what the soul does when it disembarrasses itself from the cares of the world, which are a weight on our hearts. He, then, who is freed from carnal affections and from the love of riches, and, far from being dazzled by them, disdains and despises this miserable vain glory, is, so to say, dug about and at length breathes, free from the useless weight of earthly thoughts. Nor must we, in the spirit of the parable, put forth too much wood, that is to say, live with ostentation, and gain the applause of the world; we must bring forth fruits, keeping the proof of our works for the husbandman. Be like a green olive tree in the house of God, never destitute of hope, but decked through faith with the bloom of salvation. Thus you will resemble the eternal verdure of this plant and will rival it in fruitfulness, if each day sees you giving abundantly in alms. 7. But let us return to the examination of the ingenious contrivances of creation. How many trees then arose, some to give us their fruits, others to roof our houses, others to build our ships, others to feed our fires! What a variety in the disposition of their several parts! And yet, how difficult is it to find the distinctive property of each of them, and to grasp the difference which separates them from other species. Some strike deep roots, others do not; some shoot straight up and have only one stem, others appear to love the earth and, from their root upwards, divide into several shoots. Those whose long branches stretch up afar into the air, have also deep roots which spread within a large circumference, a true foundation placed by nature to support the weight of the tree. What variety there is in bark! Some plants have smooth bark, others rough, some have only one layer, others several. What a marvellous thing! You may find in the youth and age of plants resemblances to those of man. Young and vigorous, their bark is distended; when they grow old, it is rough and wrinkled. Cut one, it sends forth new buds; the other remains henceforward sterile and as if struck with a mortal wound. But further, it has been observed that pines, cut down, or even submitted to the action of fire, are changed into a forest of oaks. We know besides that the industry of agriculturists remedies the natural defects of certain trees. Thus the sharp pomegranate and bitter almonds, if the trunk of the tree is pierced near the root to introduce into the middle of the pith a fat plug of pine, lose the acidity of their juice, and become delicious fruits. Let not the sinner then despair of himself, when he thinks, if agriculture can change the juices of plants, the efforts of the soul to arrive at virtue, can certainly triumph over all infirmities. Now there is such a variety of fruits in fruit trees that it is beyond all expression; a variety not only in the fruits of trees of different families, but even in those of the same species, if it be true, as gardeners say, that the sex of a tree influences the character of its fruits. They distinguish male from female in palms; sometimes we see those which they call female lower their branches, as though with passionate desire, and invite the embraces of the male. Then, those who take care of these plants shake over these palms the fertilizing dust from the male palm-tree, the psen as they call it: the tree appears to share the pleasures of enjoyment; then it raises its branches, and its foliage resumes its usual form. The same is said of the fig tree. Some plant wild fig trees near cultivated fig trees, and there are others who, to remedy the weakness of the productive fig tree of our gardens, attach to the branches unripe figs and so retain the fruit which had already begun to drop and to be lost. What lesson does nature here give us? That we must often borrow, even from those who are strangers to the faith, a certain vigour to show forth good works. If you see outside the Church, in pagan life, or in the midst of a pernicious heresy, the example of virtue and fidelity to moral laws, redouble your efforts to resemble the productive fig tree, who by the side of the wild fig tree, gains strength, prevents the fruit from being shed, and nourishes it with more care. 8. Plants reproduce themselves in so many different ways, that we can only touch upon the chief among them. As to fruits themselves, who could review their varieties, their forms, their colours, the peculiar flavour, and the use of each of them? Why do some fruits ripen when exposed bare to the rays of the sun, while others fill out while encased in shells? Trees of which the fruit is tender have, like the fig tree, a thick shade of leaves; those, on the contrary, of which the fruits are stouter, like the nut, are only covered by a light shade. The delicacy of the first requires more care; if the latter had a thicker case, the shade of the leaves would be harmful. Why is the vine leaf serrated, if not that the bunches of grapes may at the same time resist the injuries of the air and receive through the openings all the rays of the sun? Nothing has been done without motive, nothing by chance. All shows ineffable wisdom. What discourse can touch all? Can the human mind make an exact review, remark every distinctive property, exhibit all the differences, unveil with certainty so many mysterious causes? The same water, pumped up through the root, nourishes in a different way the root itself, the bark of the trunk, the wood and the pith. It becomes leaf, it distributes itself among the branches and twigs and makes the fruits swell— it gives to the plant its gum and its sap. Who will explain to us the difference between all these? There is a difference between the gum of the mastich and the juice of the balsam, a difference between that which distils in Egypt and Libya from the fennel. Amber is, they say, the crystallized sap of plants. And for a proof, see the bits of straws and little insects which have been caught in the sap while still liquid and imprisoned there. In one word, no one without long experience could find terms to express the virtue of it. How, again, does this water become wine in the vine, and oil in the olive tree? Yet what is marvellous is, not to see it become sweet in one fruit, fat and unctuous in another, but to see in sweet fruits an inexpressible variety of flavour. There is one sweetness of the grape, another of the apple, another of the fig, another of the date. I shall willingly give you the gratification of continuing this research. How is it that this same water has sometimes a sweet taste, softened by its remaining in certain plants, and at other times stings the palate because it has become acid by passing through others? How is it, again, that it attains extreme bitterness, and makes the mouth rough when it is found in wormwood and in scammony? That it has in acorns and dogwood a sharp and rough flavour? That in the turpentine tree and the walnut tree it is changed into a soft and oily matter? 9. But what need is there to continue, when in the same fig tree we have the most opposite flavours, as bitter in the sap as it is sweet in the fruit? And in the vine, is it not as sweet in the grapes as it is astringent in the branches? And what a variety of colour! Look how in a meadow this same water becomes red in one flower, purple in another, blue in this one, white in that. And this diversity of colours, is it to be compared to that of scents? But I perceive that an insatiable curiosity is drawing out my discourse beyond its limits. If I do not stop and recall it to the law of creation, day will fail me while making you see great wisdom in small things. Let the earth bring forth the fruit tree yielding fruit. Immediately the tops of the mountains were covered with foliage: paradises were artfully laid out, and an infinitude of plants embellished the banks of the rivers. Some were for the adornment of man's table; some to nourish animals with their fruits and their leaves; some to provide medicinal help by giving us their sap, their juice, their chips, their bark or their fruit. In a word, the experience of ages, profiting from every chance, has not been able to discover anything useful, which the penetrating foresight of the Creator did not first perceive and call into existence. Therefore, when you see the trees in our gardens, or those of the forest, those which love the water or the land, those which bear flowers, or those which do not flower, I should like to see you recognising grandeur even in small objects, adding incessantly to your admiration of, and redoubling your love for the Creator. Ask yourself why He has made some trees evergreen and others deciduous; why, among the first, some lose their leaves, and others always keep them. Thus the olive and the pine shed their leaves, although they renew them insensibly and never appear to be despoiled of their verdure. The palm tree, on the contrary, from its birth to its death, is always adorned with the same foliage. Think again of the double life of the tamarisk; it is an aquatic plant, and yet it covers the desert. Thus, Jeremiah compares it to the worst of characters— the double character. 10. Let the earth bring forth. This short command was in a moment a vast nature, an elaborate system. Swifter than thought it produced the countless qualities of plants. It is this command which, still at this day, is imposed on the earth, and in the course of each year displays all the strength of its power to produce herbs, seeds and trees. Like tops, which after the first impulse, continue their evolutions, turning upon themselves when once fixed in their centre; thus nature, receiving the impulse of this first command, follows without interruption the course of ages, until the consummation of all things. Let us all hasten to attain to it, full of fruit and of good works; and thus, planted in the house of the Lord we shall flourish in the court of our God, in our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

After the earth, rid of the weight of the water, had rested, the command had come to it to bring forth first the herbs, then the trees. And this we see still happening even at the present time. For the voice that was then heard and the first command became, as it were, a law of nature and remained in the earth, giving it the power to produce and bear fruit for all succeeding time.

When the earth heard, "Let it bring forth vegetation and the fruit trees," it did not produce plants that it had hidden in it; nor did it send up to the surface the palm or the oak or the cypress that had been hidden somewhere down below in its womb. On the contrary, it is the divine Word that is the origin of things made.

And He said: Let the earth bring forth green plants producing seed, and fruit trees making fruit according to their kinds, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth green plants, and bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees making fruit, each having seed according to its kind. And God saw that it was good, and the evening and the morning were the third day. It is clear from these words of God that the world's adornment was perfected in springtime. For it is in this season that green plants usually appear on the earth and trees are laden with fruit; and it is also noteworthy that the first sprouts of plants and trees did not come from seed, but emerged from the earth; for at one command of the Creator, the earth, which appeared dry, was suddenly adorned with plants and dressed with flowering groves, and these immediately produced from themselves fruit and seeds of their respective kinds. For it was necessary that each form of things should first proceed perfectly at the command of the Lord, just as man himself, for whom all things on earth were made, is believed to have been created perfectly, that is, in the age of youth.

The sacramental symbols are represented by the swarming of beings on earth, in this passage: "Let the earth bring forth vegetation." The manifold interpretations are signified by the seed, in this passage: "...containing their seed," etc. Who can know the infinity of seeds, when in a single one are contained forests of forests and thence seeds in infinite number? Likewise, out of Scriptures may be drawn an infinite number of interpretations which none but God can comprehend. For as new seeds come forth from plants, so also from Scriptures come forth new interpretations and new meanings, and thereby are Sacred Scriptures distinct from everything else. Hence, in relation to the interpretations yet to be drawn, we may compare to a single drop from the sea all those that have been drawn so far.

"Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants," etc. It has been explained how, by the gathering of waters, spiritual meanings should be understood. Now it remains to explain how the sacramental figures are symbolized by the vegetation of the earth. For it is not without reason that the vegetation of the earth is seen to point to Sacred Scriptures, in the sense that it has a great number of figures that grow and produce a multiplication of thoughts in the soul.

Vegetation on earth is alive, generous, and lovely. Alive, that is, having strength: wherefore it produces the green herb. And by this it is shown that the sacraments of Scripture, which externally seem arid, are yet alive within.

Some people believe that these sacraments and these Scriptures were so composed that the man who wrote them merely placed one sentence after another. It is not so, for Scripture is supremely orderly, and its order is similar to that of nature in the development of vegetation on earth. First there was a fixing of roots; then the production of green foliage; third, a multiplication of fresh flowers; fourth, an abundance of restoring fruit. Likewise, in Scripture there is first a fixing of the roots of virtue, as in the Patriarchs who are in a sense the roots of all that is said in Scripture. Hence in their calling there is a first planting. But later, in the establishment of commands and sacrifices, there is a production of green foliage. Later still, in the manifestation of the prophetical visions, there is a multiplication of flowers. Finally, in the diffusion of spiritual charisms, there is an abundance of restoring fruit. And so, here there was first one Patriarch as a single root, that is, Abraham, then another, Isaac, and a third, Jacob. And he begot twelve patriarchs from whom came the Twelve Tribes. After this plantation there followed the Law as a production of green foliage, that gave shade. And because foliage is not to last forever, but is to be followed by flowers, there followed prophecy with both fragrance and beauty. And because it was fitting that the heavens distil dew, there followed in the fourth place a Fruit in Christ, because Christ is the fruit of the Law and its fulfillment.

"The earth brought forth vegetation, every kind of seed-bearing plant and all kinds of trees that bear fruit containing their seed," etc. Concerning this vision of the intelligence taught by Scripture, we have said of the spiritual interpretation that it was understood by means of the gathering of waters. Likewise, of the sacramental figure, that it was understood through the germination of the earth. We have spoken also of the theories that were understood both through the seed and through the fruit. For these theories reproduce in a manner related to seed, and they sustain in a manner related to food: wherefore they are understood partly under the aspect of seed and partly under the aspect of the germination of fruits. In terms of seed, they consist in correlations of times, by which times follow one another; in terms of the fruit of a tree they consist also in correlations of times, by which times correspond to one another. In the order of comparison of a tree or a seed to the seed, the times follow one another; in the order of comparison of the germ to the germinating, they correspond to each other.

And why doth He not make it of things that are not? Stopping the mouth of Marcion, and of Manichaeans, who alienate His creation from Him, and teaching by His very works, that even all the things that are seen are His works and creatures, and signifying that it is Himself who gives the fruits, who said at the beginning, "Let the earth put forth the herb of grass," and "Let the waters bring forth things moving with living souls."

For this is not at all a less work than the other. For though those were made of things that are not, yet nevertheless were they of water; and it was no greater thing to produce fruits out of the earth, and moving things with life out of the water, than out of five loaves to make so many; and of fishes again, which was a sign that He was ruler both of the earth and of the sea.

But concerning the production of plants, Augustine's opinion differs from that of others. For other commentators, in accordance with the surface meaning of the text, consider that the plants were produced in act in their various species on this third day; whereas Augustine (Gen. ad lit. v, 5; viii, 3) says that the earth is said to have then produced plants and trees in their causes, that is, it received then the power to produce them. He supports this view by the authority of Scripture, for it is said (Genesis 2:4-5): "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that . . . God made the heaven and the earth, and every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew." Therefore, the production of plants in their causes, within the earth, took place before they sprang up from the earth's surface. And this is confirmed by reason, as follows. In these first days God created all things in their origin or causes, and from this work He subsequently rested. Yet afterwards, by governing His creatures, in the work of propagation, "He worketh until now."Now the production of plants from out the earth is a work of propagation, and therefore they were not produced in act on the third day, but in their causes only. However, in accordance with other writers, it may be said that the first constitution of species belongs to the work of the six days, but the reproduction among them of like from like, to the government of the universe. And Scripture indicates this in the words, "before it sprung up in the earth," and "before it grew," that is, before like was produced from like; just as now happens in the natural course by the production of seed. Wherefore Scripture says pointedly (Genesis 1:11): "Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed," as indicating the production of perfection of perfect species, from which the seed of others should arise. Nor does the question where the seminal power may reside, whether in root, stem, or fruit, affect the argument.

Let everyone be informed that the sun is not the author of vegetation.… How can the sun give the faculty of life to growing plants when these have already been brought forth by the life-giving creative power of God before the sun entered into such a life as this? The sun is younger than the green shoot, younger than the green plant.

The Manichaeans are accustomed to say, "If God commanded that the edible plants and the fruit trees come forth from the earth, who commanded that there come forth so many thorny or poisonous plants that are useless for food and so many trees that bear no fruit?" … We should say then that the earth was cursed by reason of the sin of man so that it bears thorns, not that it should suffer punishment since it is without sensation but that it should always set before the eyes of man the judgment upon human sin. Thus men might be admonished by it to turn away from sins and to turn to God's commandments. Poisonous plants were created as a punishment or as a trial for mortals. All this is the result of sin.

The adornment of the earth is older than the sun, that those who have been misled may cease worshiping the sun as the origin of life.

When I hear "grass," I think of grass, and in the same manner I understand everything as it is said: a plant, a fish, a wild animal and an ox. Indeed, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." … (Some) have attempted by false arguments and allegorical interpretations to bestow on the Scripture a dignity of their own imagining. But theirs is the attitude of one who considers himself wiser than the revelations of the Spirit and introduces his own ideas in pretense of an explanation. Therefore, let it be understood as it has been written.

Likewise, this vegetation is lovely. Wherefore Genesis continues: "Each one according to its kind." Even exterior roughness that gives nature a reputation of malformation is yet what makes it most beautiful. Hence the bride says: "I am as dark — but lovely." That is, lovely because dark.

There follows a reference to seeds and fruits. "The earth brought forth vegetation, every kind of seed-bearing plant." As in the gathering of the waters, there was a symbol of the many forms of intelligent beings, and in the germination of the earth, a symbol of the multiplicity of sacramental images, so also in the seeds is shown a kind of infinity in the heavenly theories that are pointed to by these same seeds. For the principal intelligences and figures exist in certain determined numbers, while the theories are almost infinite. For as the reflection of light-rays and images from a mirror comes about in almost infinite ways, so it is from the mirror of Scriptures. Who can know how many are the intermediate angles between the right and the obtuse, between the obtuse and the acute? Hence, as in the seeds there is multiplication to infinity, so also are the theories multiplied. Wherefore in Daniel: "Many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold," for one man and another look differently into the mirror.

"The earth brought forth vegetation, every kind of seed-bearing plant and all kinds of trees that bear fruit containing their seed," etc. Concerning this vision of the intelligence taught by Scripture, we have said of the spiritual interpretation that it was understood by means of the gathering of waters. Likewise, of the sacramental figure, that it was understood through the germination of the earth. We have spoken also of the theories that were understood both through the seed and through the fruit. For these theories reproduce in a manner related to seed, and they sustain in a manner related to food: wherefore they are understood partly under the aspect of seed and partly under the aspect of the germination of fruits. In terms of seed, they consist in correlations of times, by which times follow one another; in terms of the fruit of a tree they consist also in correlations of times, by which times correspond to one another. In the order of comparison of a tree or a seed to the seed, the times follow one another; in the order of comparison of the germ to the germinating, they correspond to each other.

Although the grasses were only a moment old at their creation, they appeared as if they were months old. Likewise, the trees, although only a day old when they sprouted forth, were nevertheless like trees years old as they were fully grown and fruits were already budding on their branches. The grass that would be required as food for the animals that were to be created two days later was thus made ready. And the new corn that would be food for Adam and his descendants, who would be thrown out of paradise four days later, was thus prepared.

In the beginning, we see, it was not an ear rising from a grain but a grain coming from an ear, and after that, the ear grows round the grain.

Hence Scripture shows you everything completed before the creation of this body [the sun] lest you attribute the production of the crops to it instead of to the Creator of all things.

He created the sun on the fourth day lest you think it is the cause of the day.

And to such a degree has the Holy Ghost made this the rule of His Scripture, that whenever anything is made out of anything, He mentions both the thing that is made and the thing of which it is made. "Let the earth," says He, "bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, after its kind. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind." ... If the Holy Ghost took upon Himself so great a concern for our instruction, that we might know from what everything was produced, would He not in like manner have kept us well informed about both the heaven and the earth, by indicating to us what it was that He made them of, if their original consisted of any material substance?

For because ages consist of times, and times are made up of days, and months, and years; since also days, and months, and years are measured by suns, and moons, and stars, which He ordained for this purpose (for "they shall be," says He, "for signs of the months and the years"), it clearly follows that the ages belong to the Creator, and that nothing of what was fore-ordained before the ages can be said to be the property of any other being than Him who claims the ages also as His own. [Against Marcion 5.6]

The Parables of Solomon, etc. The Greek word Parables is translated as Similitudes in Latin; Solomon named this book so that we might understand its contents more deeply and not just according to the letter, in which he signifies that the Lord would sometimes speak to the crowds in parables. He also announces the everlasting kingdom of Christ and the Church, symbolized by his own name and the peaceful state of his reign; as it is written: His empire shall be multiplied, and peace shall have no end; upon the throne of David and over his kingdom (Isa. IX). Likewise, through the construction and dedication of the temple, he implies the edification of the holy Church, which will be dedicated forever at the time of the resurrection. For he himself is also said to be the son of David and the spiritual king of Israel, as testified by the crowds who came to meet him at Jerusalem with palm branches and praises (Matt. XXI). It is notable that the Vulgate edition, for Parables, which are called Missae in Hebrew, uses Paroemiae, meaning proverbs. But even this name does not deviate from the truth. For those things rightly called parables, because they are hidden, can also incongruously be called proverbs, because they are the kind of things that justly deserve to be frequently spoken of and retained in memory. And proverbs are often spoken so obscurely that they might not undeservedly be noted by the name of parables, the Lord himself attesting, who said: These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will tell you plainly of the Father (John XVI). The usefulness of Solomon's Parables is shown in the added title, when it says:

The proverb, according to barbarian philosophy, is called a mode of prophecy, and the parable is so called, and the enigma in addition. Further also, they are called wisdom; and again, as something different from it, "instruction and words of prudence," and "turnings of words" and "true righteousness"; and again, "teaching to direct judgment" and "subtlety to the simple," which is the result of training, and "perception and thought," with which the young catechumen is imbued.

A proverb is a saying such as, "War is pleasant to the inexperienced," or "A drop constantly falling hollows a stone." The name proverb derived from the fact that once roads were marked off with no signs. Now there are signs, which are called miliaria (milestones) by the Romans, while they were just called signs before. Ancient people set them in certain places and then inscribed them with certain information and questions. So they fulfilled two purposes. On the one hand, they indicated to the traveler the length of the journey. On the other, when one read the inscription and kept busy comprehending it, one was relieved of weariness. Therefore a road is called in Greek oimos, from which is derived the word paroimia, which means "proverb."

A proverb is a saying that, under the guise of physical things, signifies intelligible things.

Proverbs, therefore, are words of exhortation serviceable for the whole path of life; for to those who seek their way to God, these serve as guides and signs to revive them when wearied with the length of the road. These, moreover, are the proverbs of "Solomon," that is to say, the "peacemaker," who, in truth, is Christ the Saviour. And since we understand the words of the Lord without offence, as being the words of the Lord, that no one may mislead us by likeness of name, he tells us who wrote these things, and of what people he was king, in order that the credit of the speaker may make the discourse acceptable and the hearers attentive; for they are the words of that Solomon to whom the Lord said: "I will give thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like thee upon the earth, and after thee there shall not arise any like unto thee," and as follows in what is written of him. Now he was the wise son of a wise father; wherefore there is added the name of David, by whom Solomon was begotten. From a child he was instructed in the sacred Scriptures, and obtained his dominion not by lot, nor by force, but by the judgment of the Spirit and the decree of God.

You ask me … why it is that sometimes in my writings I quote examples from secular literature and thus defile the whiteness of the church with the foulness of heathenism. I will now briefly answer your question.… Both in Moses and in the prophets there are passages cited from Gentile books, and … Solomon proposed questions to the philosophers of Tyre and answered others put by them. In the commencement of the book of Proverbs he charges us to understand prudent maxims and shrewd adages, parables and obscure discourse, the words of the wise and their dark sayings; all of which belong by right to the sphere of the dialectician and the philosopher.

He manifestly shows at once in the beginning of his Proverbs that he is establishing these foundations of true philosophy and an order of disciplines and institutions because the place of reason has not lain hidden or been rejected by him. First of all, he shows this by the very fact that he titled his book "Proverbs," which name indicates that something is being said openly but something else is being indicated inwardly. The common use of proverbs teaches this fact. John too in the Gospel writes that the Savior says, "I have spoken these things to you in proverbs; the hour will come when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will proclaim to you openly about the Father." Meanwhile, these things have been said in the very inscription of the book.

Solomon, who seems to have served the will of the Holy Spirit in those three books, is called in Proverbs, "Solomon, the Son of David, who ruled in Israel." ... Therefore, in the first book, Proverbs, when he grounds us in moral disciplines, he is said to be "king" in "Israel"--but not yet in Jeruslem--because although we are said to be "Israel" because of our faith, nonetheless we have not yet arrived to that level so that we seem to have arrived at "the heavenly Jerusalem."

A proverb is a cryptic saying that has an indirect meaning. [Solomon] ruled in Israel, in order to understand wisdom and instruction. Wisdom is the spiritual knowledge pertaining to God, bodiless hosts and judgment; it also includes teaching about providence and unveils contemplation on the subjects of ethics, natural sciences and theology. Or rather, wisdom is the knowledge of both physical and spiritual worlds and of the judgment and providence pertaining to them. On the other hand, instruction is the disciplining of the passions of that passionate or unreasonable part of the soul. One who has advanced to the level of theology has learned wisdom.

The purpose for which the royal Father gave to the royal Son his judgment and his justice is sufficiently shown when he says, "To judge your people in justice," that is, for the purpose of judging your people. Such an idiom is found in … the Proverbs of Solomon, for the purpose of knowing wisdom and discipline.

To know wisdom, etc. To know wisdom and discipline is to understand how to believe rightly, how one ought to live, to have truly learned where to direct the intention of the heart, and to know what is fitting to do. When it adds:

To understand the words of prudence, etc., it advises those whom it teaches not only to embrace wisdom, which they have once perceived, and to know how to serve the virtue of discipline they have recognized, but also to eagerly listen to the words of the wise, by which they may proceed to perfection, and to diligently strive to understand them.

"To know wisdom and instruction." He who knows the wisdom of God, receives from Him also instruction, and learns by it the mysteries of the Word; and they who know the true heavenly wisdom will easily understand the words of these mysteries. Wherefore he says: "To understand the difficulties of words; " for things spoken in strange language by the Holy Spirit become intelligible to those who have their hearts right with God.

Justice, and judgment, etc. Justice is in those things we do well according to the rule of truth; judgment, in those things we act with right discernment with our neighbors. Equity is in that action wherein with sincere intention we strive to please God alone in the things we rightly do or judge.

Even as there is one true God, and as there are many who are called gods by participation in him, and as there is one begotten Son of God, but others are called sons by adoption; so also there is one true justice—as it is written in the introduction of the Book of Proverbs—but the Lord loves the many acts of righteousness that are pronounced just because of their participation in true justice.

To confess that we are imperfect; that we have not yet laid hold of it; and that we have not yet obtained it. This is true wisdom in man: to know that he is imperfect; and, if I may so say, the perfection of all the just, living in the flesh, is imperfect. Whence, also, we read in Proverbs: "To understand true justice."

According to Proverbs, "That resourcefulness may be imparted to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion" [is a statement that may be taken in a good sense but also] in a bad sense, as in the letter of the apostle: "But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his guile, so your minds may be corrupted and fall from a single devotion to Christ."What the Lord is saying, therefore, is this: My knowledge, deepest thought and the inmost desire of my heart was with me, not only in my heavenly mansions but also when I dwelt in the night of this world and in darkness. It remained in me as man, and it instructed me and never left me, so that whatever the weakness of the flesh was unable to achieve, divine thought and power accomplished.

Those concepts which are expressed by the Holy Spirit in parables through their counterpart of speech become quite clear when one brings them before God with a faithful heart. For they understand the true righteousness which was announced by Christ.

There are, as you know, certain vices forming contraries to the virtues by a clear distinction, as imprudence to prudence. There are also some which are only contrary because they are vices but which have a sort of deceptive resemblance to virtues, as when we set against prudence, not imprudence, but craftiness. I am now speaking of that craftiness which is more commonly understood and expressed in an evil sense, not as our Scripture ordinarily uses it, which often gives it a good meaning; hence we have "wise as serpents" and "to give subtlety to little ones." …In the same way, injustice is contrary to justice by an evident antithesis, whereas the craving for vengeance puts on a show of justice but is a vice.

To give prudence to the simple, etc. He calls simple those who have recently begun to listen to wisdom; the youth, who has already made some progress in listening to it. And perhaps he calls the simple in the plural number and youth in the singular, because the teaching of wisdom receives characters devoted to various emotions and manners of living, and leads them in the way of becoming more perfect in virtue. Of such it is rightly said: The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul (Acts IV). To give, he says, prudence to the simple. This indeed is necessary for the untrained and the beginners, so that by determining and avoiding the craftiness of sophisms, they can be prevented from being drawn away from the simplicity of true wisdom, which leads to life. To the youth, knowledge and understanding, because one who prudently avoids falsehood will consequently receive the understanding of the truth. So far the preface; hence the text of the Parables begins.

A wise man will hear and become wiser. Since Solomon was a lover of wisdom, who, having the option given to him, sought and received wisdom, he fittingly begins his Parables with wisdom. But when it is said: A wise man, when he hears the word, becomes wiser, it shows that no one in this life can become so wise that their wisdom cannot be increased, and it is always the custom of wise people to listen to the sayings of their elders, and sometimes even those younger than themselves; whatever utility they hear in them, they apply to themselves and remember in their heart. Indeed, a lesser wise man heard a greater one, the Queen of Sheba heard Solomon, and returned wiser (3 Kings 10). Moses heard his much lesser father-in-law, and he became more elevated and wiser (Exodus 18). The disciples heard Christ and were deemed worthy to receive the spirit of wisdom. Nicodemus heard, Gamaliel heard, and his disciple, then Saul, now the Apostle Paul, heard. Truly wise men heard the word of the Gospel and were made wiser. When Paul was caught up to the third heaven and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter (Acts 22), nonetheless, he returned to earth saying: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away (1 Corinthians 13).

And he who understands will possess governance. Let no one boast about their knowledge because if anyone often neglects to hear and understand the words of the wise, they do not know how to properly govern their life. How much more can such a person not be appointed to another's governance, who has despised subjecting themselves to paternal discipline! Therefore, he says, Hearing, the wise man will be wiser, referring to the knowledge of things that are known through wisdom; and when he adds, And he who understands will possess governance, it pertains to the rectitude of life that is learned or taught through the same wisdom. And the beginning of Proverbs beautifully matches the beginning of the title, which reads, The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, for gaining wisdom and discipline.

"The wise man hearing shall be wiser, and the one who understands shall possess counsels." In the second word Solomon shows that it is useful to hear the word of God; and the reason is that in the hearing of the word of God both he who understands profits, and likewise he who does not understand: therefore both the wise and the simple ought to go to hear the word of God. That the wise profit by hearing the word of God is clear, because he says that the wise man hearing wisdom shall be wiser.

There are indeed many who know how so to control their outward advancement as by no means to fall inwardly thereby. Whence it is written, "God casteth not away the mighty, seeing that He also Himself is mighty." And it is said through Solomon, "A man of understanding shall possess governments." But to me these things are difficult, since they are also exceedingly burdensome; and what the mind has not received willingly it does not control fitly. Lo, our most serene Lord the Emperor has ordered an ape to be made a lion. And, indeed, in virtue of his order it can be called a lion, but a lion it cannot be made. Wherefore his Piety must needs himself take the blame of all my faults and short-comings, having committed a ministry of power to a weak agent.

[Daniel 2:21] "And it is He who changes times and seasons, who transfers kingdoms and establishes kingdoms." Let us not marvel, therefore, whenever we see kings and empires succeed one another, for it is by the will of God that they are governed, altered, and terminated. And the cases of individuals are well known to Him who founded all things. He often permits wicked kings to arise in order that they may in their wickedness punish the wicked. At the same time by indirect suggestion and general discussion he prepares the reader for the fact that the dream Nebuchadnezzar saw was concerned with the change and succession of empires. "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who acquire learning." This accords with the scripture: "The wise man will hear and increase his wisdom" (Proverbs 1:5). "For he who has, to him it shall be given" (Matthew 25:29). A soul which cherishes an ardent love of wisdom is freely infilled by the Spirit of God. But wisdom will never penetrate a perverse soul (Wisdom 3:1-13).

He who accepts the doctrines of wisdom, sometimes, in addition to the first doctrines because of which he is already wise, takes up second doctrines in reference to which he was not formerly wise, and [then] he will be wiser, just as also it is said, "For when a wise man has heard these things, he will be wiser."

He will comprehend a proverb and a parable, etc. This humility was given to the disciples by the wisdom that taught them in the flesh so that they could understand both its parables, which the crowds could not comprehend, and the enigmas of the prophets and the law, that is, the obscure sayings that they would spiritually perceive and elucidate for their listeners. And also to the succeeding teachers of the Church, the same secrets of spiritual understanding were unlocked to those who sought and knocked earnestly.

"He made darkness his cover, his pavilion around him: dark water in the clouds of the air." … Remember that darkness is used also in a good sense, as in this passage from Solomon's Proverbs: "He also understands a parable and a dark saying." All divine matters that we do not know about are dark to us, that is, deep and obscure, though they bask in continuous light. A hiding place, namely, the secret place of his majesty, which he reveals to the just when it falls to them to gaze face to face upon the glory of his divinity. "His pavilion around him": this expression is explained as the glorious worthiness of the blessed, that those who have persevered faithfully in his church dwell beside him. "Around him" indicates his nearness, for he encircles and penetrates all things, but he is not encircled by anyone, because he is not able to be hemmed in by any place.

It is universally admitted that the name of "proverb," in its scriptural use, is not applied with regard to the evident sense but is used with a view to some hidden meaning, as the Gospel thus gives the name of "proverbs" to dark and obscure sayings. So the "proverb," if one were to set forth the interpretation of the name by a definition, is a form of speech which, by means of one set of ideas immediately presented, points to something else which is hidden. Or [it is] a form of speech which does not point out the aim of the thought directly but gives its instruction by an indirect signification.

[Daniel 2:22] "It is He who reveals deep and hidden things, and He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light." A man to whom God makes profound revelations and who can say, "O the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God!" (Romans 11:33), he it is who by the indwelling Spirit probes even into the deep things of God, and digs the deepest of wells in the depths of his soul. He is a man who has stirred up the whole earth, which is wont to conceal the deep waters, and he observes the command of God, saying: "Drink water from thy vessels and from the spring of thy wells" (Proverbs 5:15). As for the words which follow, "He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light," the darkness signifies ignorance, and the light signifies knowledge and learning. Therefore as wrong cannot hide God away, so right encompasses and surrounds Him. Or else we should interpret the words to mean all the dark mysteries and deep things (concerning God), according to what we read in Proverbs: "He understands also the parable and the dark saying." (Proverbs 1:6, LXX) This in turn is equivalent to what we read in the Psalms: "Dark waters in the clouds of the sky" (Psalm 18:11). For one who ascends to the heights and forsakes the things of earth, and like the birds themselves seeks after the most rarified atmosphere and everything ethereal, he becomes like a cloud to which the truth of God penetrates and which habitually showers rain upon the saints. Replete with a plenitude of knowledge, he contains in his breast many dark waters enveloped with deep darkness, a darkness which only Moses can penetrate and speak with God face to face (Exodus 33:11), of Whom the Scripture says: "He hath made darkness His hiding-place" (Psalm 18:11).

We must observe that not every time something is named "darkness" is it taken in a bad sense; there are times when it has also been used in a good sense. It is because the heterodox did not make this distinction that they accepted the most irreverent doctrines concerning the Creator and withdrew from him and abandoned themselves to the fictions of myths. We must now point out, therefore, how and when the term darkness is understood in a good sense.Darkness, storm clouds and thunderstorms are said to surround God in Exodus, and in Psalm 17 it says, God "made darkness his hiding place, his tent around him, dark water in the clouds of the air." … But if someone takes offense at such interpretations, let him be persuaded both from the dark sayings and the dark, hidden, invisible treasures given to Christ by God.

It is also the beginning of good discipline, as it is written: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7); for those who fear the Lord turn away from error and direct their ways to the path of virtue. For unless someone fears God, they cannot renounce sin.

You should regulate your life and conduct by the commandments of God, which we have received to enable us to lead a good life, beginning with a religious fear, for "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," whereby human pride is broken down and weakened. Second, with a mild and gentle piety you should refrain from objecting to passages of the holy Scriptures which you do not yet understand and which seem to the uninstructed devoid of sense and self-contradictory. And you should not try to impose your ideas on the meaning of the holy books but submit and hold your mind in check rather than savagely attack its hidden meaning.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There are two fears of the Lord: the first is servile, which is called the beginning of knowledge or wisdom; the second is friendly, which accompanies the perfection of wisdom. Servile fear is the beginning of wisdom because whoever begins to be wise after the error of sins is first seized by divine fear, lest they be led to punishments. But this fear is cast out by perfect love (1 John 4). However, the holy fear of the Lord, which remains forever and ever (Psalm 111:10), is not excluded but is increased by charity. This is the fear by which a good son fears lest he offend the eyes of his most loving Father even slightly. For in the initial fear, the servile spirit still fears lest it be subdued by punishments from an angry master. Both fears, however, will cease in the future life; charity will never fail (1 Corinthians 13), but it will remain in the fullness of wisdom perpetually; which is to know the true and only God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17:3).

Fools despise wisdom and discipline. It has been said of the wise man that he will become wiser upon hearing the word, and the one who understands will learn to rightly govern his actions. In contrast, it is said of fools that they do not only fail to attain the wisdom of right doctrine and the discipline of pure conduct but also despise knowing it. Indeed, while wisdom in the flesh was preaching, the wise rejoicingly ran to it: but the Pharisees and the chief priests spurned its saving words and deeds alike. And note that the singular form is used for the wise man, but the plural for fools, because there are not only more fools than wise people, but the assembly of the wise follows a single path of piety. Moreover, those erring with dissimilar doctrines have a dissimilar order of living.

There are things practiced in a vulgar style by some people, such as control over pleasures. For as among the heathen there are those who, from the impossibility of obtaining what one sees and from fear of men, and also for the sake of greater pleasures, abstain from the delights before them, so also, in the case of faith, some practice self-restraint, either out of regard to the promise or from fear of God. [Indeed] such self-restraint is the basis of knowledge, and an approach to something better, and an effort after perfection. For "the fear of the Lord," it is said, "is the beginning of wisdom."

He also said, 'The beginning and the end is the fear of the Lord. For it is written, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. 111:10) and, when Abraham built an altar the Lord said to him, "Now I know that you fear God" (Gen. 22:12).'

To know goodness is not sufficient to reach blessedness, if one does not put goodness into practice with works. Piety toward God is actually the beginning of knowledge.

Virtuous living is really the source and root of wisdom, just as all wickedness has its source in folly. I say this because the braggart and the slave of passion are taken captive by these vices as a result of a lack of wisdom. For this reason the prophet has said, "There is no health in my flesh. My sores are foul and festering because of my folly," to indicate that all sin takes its beginning from a lack of wisdom; just as the virtuous person who fears God is wisest of all. That is why a certain wise man also says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." If, then, to fear God is to have wisdom, and the evildoer does not possess this fear, he is really bereft of wisdom; and he who is bereft of wisdom is truly the most foolish of all.

Piety toward God is a beginning [of discernment]. It acts as a fountain and source for discerning the divine, according to our inner being, so that we may see the true light, hear the secret oracles, be nourished with the bread of life, obtain the fragrance of Christ and learn the doctrine of this life. When we have piety, our senses too are allied with us, when neither our eyes see nor our mouth speaks evil.

Since, therefore, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and this virtue can be had without wisdom, to whom belongs the beginning of fear? The blessed apostle Peter says, "Grace to you and peace be accomplished in the knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord," who has now given "us all things of his divine power, which appertain to life and godliness." Does he say, "Who has excited in us by his help the seeds of virtues which we had naturally implanted"? Rather, he says, "Who has now given us all things which pertain to life and godliness." And in saying this, of what virtue has he placed the beginning in nature, which was not conferred by him who gave all things? Wherefore, St. Paul also says, "For what have you that you have not received? And if you have received, why do you glory as if you had not received?"

How extremely frequent is the intercourse which heretics hold with magicians, with mountebanks, with astrologers, with philosophers. The reason is that they are people who devote themselves to curious questions. "Seek and you shall find," is everywhere in their minds. Thus, from the very nature of their conduct may be estimated the quality of their doctrine. They say that God is not to be feared; therefore all things are in their view free and unchecked. Where, however, is God not feared, except where he is not present? Where God is not, there truth also is not. Where there is no truth, then, naturally enough, there is also such a discipline as theirs. But where God is, there exists "the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom."

To the atheist is the name fool most accurately applied in truth and nature: if the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, lack of fear and denial of him would be the opposite of wisdom.

Listen, my son, to your father's discipline, etc. He has thus far disputed proverbially about each side, now he begins diligently to admonish each faithful person to prefer the discipline of the divine law to the enticements of the wicked; for certainly the observance of this leads to a crown, while the deeds of those lead to eternal death. Hence rightly he calls him son, whom the father takes care to instruct with solicitude. It may also be taken as spoken from the person of God the Father, and in the name of the mother, the Church, which was then called the Synagogue, is understood. And note that he so commands us to listen to the discipline of the Father, that we should in no way abandon the law, because it is not sufficient for someone to say they love the Lord and obey His precepts if they do not follow the unity of the Church with brotherly charity. And it is not prohibited to take the mother, who is herself the grace of God by which we are saved. For among the Hebrews, the spirit that grants grace is named in the feminine gender.

Through listening to paternal instruction and through observance of maternal law, grace is put on our head and a neck ring on our neck. For the more one gives heed to divine commands [and] strives to observe with greater diligence what one has learned in the unity of mother church, the more one may now ascend with greater worthiness to the honor of preaching and may in the future ascend with greater exaltation to the blessedness of reigning with Christ for ever.

God is Father of the righteous. Whoever practices justice was born from God. Our mother is the church, whose bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ. Our laws are the apostolic constitutions. Even though the concepts expressed above have a sublime meaning, they also apply to earthly parents when they educate their children in how to live piously before God. Since that teacher, who generates his children through the gospel, is a man, his wife and mother of his children is the church, or rather the ecclesiastical doctrine and way of life. If you, he says, listen to me as the author of the Proverbs—first in my role as the narrator of the father, and then as the narrator of wisdom and virtue (that is, of the mother)—you will be encircled with a crown of grace and your neck will be adorned with a necklace fashioned of intellectual gold and jewels. The material of the crown, with which the head of the interior man is encircled, is the circle of virtues, which are called graces. Accordingly, the golden necklace put around the neck of the soul (that is, around one's obedience) must be understood as a part of the intellectual crown.

The church is not truly called the "pillar and foundation of truth" if it is found unsound in the most basic mystery of human salvation. But because it is truly called the "pillar and foundation of truth" by the apostle, whatever according to the canons of the church itself is given and received within it, among the holy mysteries of human redemption and reconciliation, is given with firm truth and received with firm truth.It is so commanded in Proverbs: "Hear, my child, your father's instruction and do not reject your mother's teaching," so that we may never reject the general canons of holy mother the church, that is, those which the most harmonious assent of all the bishops confirms.

Our Lord … offers us his hand, takes part in the struggle, and seemingly in every way hands over our adversary to us in defeat, striving might and main that we may prevail and wrest the victory, so that he may place on our head the unfading crown. Scripture says, remember, "You will receive a crown of graces upon your head." Whereas in the Olympic games the crown after victory is nothing more than a laurel wreath, or applause, or acclamation of the crowd, all of which disappears and is lost with the coming of evening, the crown for virtue and its struggles has nothing material about it. It is not subject to decay in this world but is everlasting, immortal, enduring for all ages.

If you preserve in your faithful heart the law of your Father and observe the commands of your mother, you will receive the crown of graces on your head and the golden necklace in the resurrection of the righteous ones. You will be glorified in the heavenly and imperishable kingdom and crowned by Christ if you fight in a manner worthy of such a crown. No athlete is crowned unless such a person has contended strongly and legitimately.

"That grace may be added to your head," etc. It was a custom among the ancients that those who competed lawfully would receive a crown on their head and a torque on their neck. Therefore, for us too, if we keep the discipline of our Creator, if we observe the decrees of the mother of grace, the greater clarity of spiritual virtues is increased from there. For grace is added to the head when charity, which adorned the principal part of the mind, is inflamed more ardently. And a torque is added to the neck when, with the splendor of perfect action, the word of preaching, which proceeds through the neck, is confirmed; and lest it be despised by the hearers, it is taught with an unbroken connection of virtues. But also in those who kept the decrees of the Mosaic law, when the Lord came, the grace of the New Testament was added with the hope of the heavenly kingdom. Whose exceptional splendor will never be enclosed by any end, like a crown or a torque. To us also, when the light of eternity is granted for our acts, which divine grace has bestowed, indeed grace is added to the head, and a torque to the neck, according to the Gospel saying: "For we have all received from his fullness, grace upon grace" (John 1); grace, namely, of blessed retribution, for the grace of righteous action.

"My son, if sinners entice you," etc. Sinners entice in two ways those whom they deceive, because they either allure them to commit crimes with blandishments, or they uplift deeds already done with favors, as if laudably performed. In both cases, wisdom exhorts its listeners not to acquiesce to such things.

[On how sinners entice the young — not with obvious threats or bribes, but with the invitation to join a "we" of insiders, and the terror of being left out in the cold if one refuses]

To nine out of ten of you the choice which could lead to scoundrelism will come, when it does come, in no very dramatic colours. Obviously bad men, obviously threatening or bribing, will almost certainly not appear. Over a drink or a cup of coffee, disguised as a triviality and sandwiched between two jokes, from the lips of a man, or woman, whom you have recently been getting to know rather better and whom you hope to know better still—just at the moment when you are most anxious not to appear crude, or naif or a prig—the hint will come. It will be the hint of something which is not quite in accordance with the technical rules of fair play... but something, says your new friend, which "we"—and at the word "we" you try not to blush for mere pleasure—something "we always do". And you will be drawn in, if you are drawn in, not by desire for gain or ease, but simply because at that moment, when the cup was so near your lips, you cannot bear to be thrust back again into the cold outer world. And then, if you are drawn in, next week it will be something a little further from the rules, and next year something further still, but all in the jolliest, friendliest spirit. It may end in a crash, a scandal, and penal servitude: it may end in millions, a peerage and giving the prizes at your old school. But you will be a scoundrel.

Wherefore by Solomon He commands the children to beware: "My son, let not sinners deceive thee, and go not after their ways; and go not, if they entice thee, saying, Come with us, share with us in innocent blood, and let us hide unjustly the righteous man in the earth; let us put him out of sight, all alive as he is into Hades." This is accordingly likewise a prediction concerning the Lord's passion.

There is one text in Proverbs so far from being obscure that its relationship to Christ and his possession, the church, can be grasped without any such trouble. Wicked men are speaking: "Let us unjustly hide away in the earth the just man, let us swallow him up alive like hell. Let us abolish his memory from the earth, let us lay hands upon his precious possession." This is very like what the Lord Jesus himself, in one of the Gospel parables, puts into the mouths of the wicked vinedressers: "This is the heir; come let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance."

"If they say, Come with us," etc. This passage can be generally said of robbers, who bring either death traps or harm to the innocent. It can also be specifically understood of those who handed over the author of life to death.

"Let us lay in wait for the innocent without cause." They did this when they said: "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" (Mark 12) and countless other similar things. Truly he was innocent, who did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Truly they laid traps for him in vain, by whom they were not harmed, but from whom they had experienced many benefits.

These things he understands of the people of the Jews, and their guilt in the blood of Christ; for they thought that He had His conversation (citizenship) on earth only.

"Let us swallow him alive like the grave," etc. Thus the wicked desired to extinguish the Lord, that every memory of his virtues and teaching might be removed; and even that it might be forgotten that such a one ever lived among them.

"We shall find all precious substance," etc. They spoke of the people whom they saw adhering to Christ. For they thought that if they killed him, they could separate all who had believed from his love and following, and fill their gatherings with such spoils of people. Similar to this is that parable of the Lord, when the son of the king came to them, they said: "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours" (Mark 12).

"Cast in your lot with us," etc. A purse is a sack of money. It is evident about robbers that, to gather more accomplices in crime, they promise them a share of the booty they have taken. But also the persecutors of our Redeemer, whoever they could, they joined to themselves. But those whom they saw following him, they expelled from the synagogue, depriving them of their communion.

"My son, do not walk in the way with them," etc. He forbids those who believe in Christ among the Jews from associating with the Jews who persecute Christ. Finally, all who believed were together. And Peter speaking to them said, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2).

It is not fair to be too hasty in casting out an offender but slow in receiving him when he returns; to be forward in cutting off but unmerciful when he is sorrowful and ought to be healed. For of such as these speaks the divine Scripture: "Their feet run to mischief; they are hasty to shed blood." … Now the way of peace is our Savior Jesus Christ, who has taught us, saying, "Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you," that is, give remission of sins, and your offenses shall be forgiven you. .

"For their feet run to evil," etc. They hasten not only to the evil they work temporarily, but also to the evil they will suffer perpetually, as often as they hurry to commit murder or some other crime. For as much as they are led to commit a crime, so much they approach to endure the punishment for the crime. These things can be especially understood of the plotters against our Savior. However, the following verse is generally inserted about his faithful who equally endure the malice of the wicked.

It is good for the … feet … that they be not swift to shed blood or to run to evil, but that they be prompted to run to the gospel and the prize of the high calling, and to receive Christ who washes and cleanses them.

It is not fair to be too hasty in casting out an offender but slow in receiving him when he returns; to be forward in cutting off but unmerciful when he is sorrowful and ought to be healed. For of such as these speaks the divine Scripture: "Their feet run to mischief; they are hasty to shed blood." … Now the way of peace is our Savior Jesus Christ, who has taught us, saying, "Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you," that is, give remission of sins, and your offenses shall be forgiven you.

"Surely in vain the net is spread," etc. Truly the snare of persecution or death is spread in vain for the elect, who have the wings of hope and charity and other virtues, by which they desire heavenly things while they live, so that they may deserve to reach them after death. They also have the eyes of the mind, by which they foresee both the evils they endure from the wicked passing quickly and the eternal goods they have deserved for enduring. With these same eyes, they foresee both the pride of the reprobate soon to be consumed and the perpetual torments following. It can also be understood thus, that he rightly speaks of the pernicious doctrine of the wicked, which he wove from the place where he said: "If sinners entice you, do not consent." For it is in vain that such a net is spread before those who contemplate heavenly things with pure eyes of the heart; who know how to say with the prophet: "Our soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers." For he easily avoids the snares spread on earth, who has his conversation in heaven. Therefore, the wicked in vain prepare both nets for the good, because if they persuade to wickedness, they are overcome by the wisdom of the righteous; and if they bring adversity, they are despised for their patience. Moreover, the tempters themselves are destroyed by their own snares. Hence, it is rightly added:

Now, the Scripture saith, "Not unjustly are nets spread out for birds." This means that the man perishes justly, who, having a knowledge of the way of righteousness, rushes off into the way of darkness.

If then nets are not wrongfully stretched for birds, as it is said in Proverbs, but God justly leads men into the snare, as it is said, "You led us into the snare," and if not even a sparrow, cheapest of birds, falls into the snare without the will of the Father (its fall into the snare being due to its failure to use properly the power of its wings given to it to soar), let us pray to do nothing to deserve being brought into temptation. By God's righteous judgment, the wicked are delivered to uncleanness by God into the lusts of their own heart; or are delivered unto shameful affections; or, having not proved to have God in full knowledge, are delivered to a reprobate mind to do that which is disgraceful.

They themselves also lie in wait for their own blood, etc. For their own blood, that they may be punished with temporal death; but against their souls, he says, that they may also be condemned by the eternal perdition of their souls. This applies to all who lie in wait for blood and think they should live by fraud, yet it especially suits the Jews, who hid snares for the innocent Lord and attempted to circumvent His apostles, supported by the wings of virtues, with deceit. For they acted against their own blood and their own souls, who, fearing lest they should lose their earthly kingdom, killed the King of heaven and earth, and persecuted the citizens of heaven upon the earth; and thus, they lost both the kingdom they had on earth and that which they could acquire in heaven. Generally saying, whosoever has the eyes of faith open, and receives wings from the Lord, as of a dove, with which he will fly to eternal rest, the wicked weave snares in vain, and by presuming this, they rather destroy themselves.

If the paths of the greedy seize the souls of those who possess them. He calls the paths of the greedy his subtle thoughts, whereby he diligently inquires how to increase his wealth. Such paths seize the souls of those who possess them, that is, of those who excessively cling to the possessions of wealth. Therefore, he says, not only do those who, for the love of money, watch for the robberies and murders of the innocent, destroy themselves by acting thus, but also, in the same order, even though lesser in guilt, all greedy thoughts that prefer gold to God, lead to destruction. Alternatively: Thus, the paths of every greedy person seize the souls of possessors. With such an end, as mentioned earlier, every greedy person destroys or strips those who abound in possessions, so that by doing this, he rather perishes himself. For why should he kill the poor, whom he sees possessing nothing? He does not find anyone to rob. Hitherto, the persecutions which the Jews brought upon Christ are described. From here, they recount what He Himself speaks to His own persecutors through the apostles after His passion.

Wisdom preaches in the streets, etc. The Wisdom of God, indeed, is Christ, who, having lived in the world, revealed the mysteries of His divinity to a few and instructed them not to preach that He was Jesus Christ before His passion and resurrection, lest they tell anyone the glory they saw on the mount; and then, He showed His Majesty's power more by works than by words, fulfilling the prophecy that said: Nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets (Isaiah 42). But after His resurrection, wisdom preached outside (Matt. 12); for, having sent down the Holy Spirit, He revealed Himself to the world through the apostles. In the streets, He raised His voice, because He publicly repeated to the crowds what He had taught to few, fulfilling the word which He said to His heralds: What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops (Matt. 10). He cried out at the head of the multitudes, because He openly brought to the memory of the princes, who thought they had prevailed against Him by crucifying Him, the guilt of the murder they committed and called them to the remedy of repentance.

This wisdom has been made manifest, hence "wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the open squares she raises her voice." And yet we do not find her, resembling the unlettered man who owns a book and has no concern for it. And so with us: the Scriptures were given to us in Greek, in the vernacular and in Hebrew, and yet they are unknown as a source.

It is written: "Wisdom is made known in death," that is to say, the life of the wise man is praised at the end of his life. Wherefore we read also in another place: "Do not praise a man during his lifetime"and again, "Praise not any man before death." Now suppose someone says: praise a man after death, for in the praise of the living there is a possible occasion of vain exultation for the object of the laudation and a note of flattery is attached to the one bestowing it. In many ways, however, it is useful to praise the dead: in the first place, because, while the one is absent who might be gratified by our praise, it is necessary that the whole glory be referred to the bestower of grace; second, because only admiration for his virtue remains when the suspicion of flattery is removed. Therefore, praise of the dead which is proclaimed in the holy congregation of the faithful is full of edification and utterly free from ostentation.

What about this saying: "He who shall have persevered to the end, shall be saved," or that oracle of the divine word in the sacred proverbs: "Wisdom is proclaimed at the moment of departure"? These sayings show that, though wisdom is helpful in every age, all people should be particularly wise when they are leaving this world, because the wisdom of past years will not fully deserve praise if it does not terminate in a good end. Wisdom is proclaimed at the moment of departure.

Let it be known to people everywhere that the Lord is God, and even though he appeared in a form like us, yet has he given us the indications of a godlike power and majesty on many occasions and in a multitude of ways. He drove away diseases and rebuked unclean spirits. He gave the blind their sight. Finally, he even expelled death itself from the bodies of men, death that cruelly and mercilessly had tyrannized humankind from Adam even to Moses, according to the expression of the divine Paul. That widow's son at Nain arose unexpectedly and wonderfully. The miracle did not remain unknown to everyone throughout Judea but was announced abroad as a divine sign, and admiration was upon every tongue.

This was a great thing in an insensible and ungrateful people. For in a short time afterward they would neither esteem Him as a prophet, nor allow that He did aught for the public good. But none of those that dwelt in Judæa were ignorant of this miracle, as it follows, And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judæa.

And this word went forth etc. After the excellence of power in Christ has been sufficiently shown through the greatness of the twofold miracle, here secondly is shown the evidence of truth in the same through the certainty of truthful testimony, which was indeed the testimony of the Forerunner. Now for the certification of this testimony, one can and ought to proceed in two ways: either through the proof of the truth itself in itself, or through the approbation of virtue in the one testifying. The first regards the Forerunner's teaching, the second regards the Forerunner's life, both of which contribute to the corroboration of the testimony. Now John asks of him to whom he had borne testimony, not in order to remove doubt, but in order to confirm the testimony through an infallible argument.

Therefore, first is introduced the occasion of seeking from the proclamation of Christ's name: with respect to which it is said: And this report went out, namely concerning the raising of the dead man, into all Judea concerning him and into the entire surrounding region, so that all could say that word of Job twenty-eight: "With our ears we have heard the fame of him"; and Joshua nine: "We have heard the fame of his power," namely of your God: whence also in Matthew four it is said that "his fame went throughout all Syria." A figure of this preceded in King Uzziah: Second Chronicles twenty-six: "His name went out far abroad, because the Lord helped him and strengthened him."

And because we have already said above (in Luke, chapter 3) that John is a type of the Law, which was a precursor of Christ, it is right that the Law, which held captive the hearts of the faithless as if in eternal prisons, was physically enclosed, with its fertile entrails of punishments and doors of madness restrained, would not be able to bring about the complete fulfillment of the testimony of the Lord's dispensation without the consent of the Gospel. Indeed, the Law prophesied the grace of baptism through the cloud and the sea in Exodus; it foreshadowed spiritual food in the lamb (Exodus 12:3); it designated an everlasting fountain in the rock (Exodus 17:6); it revealed the forgiveness of sins in Leviticus (Leviticus 25:10); it announced the kingdom of heaven in the Psalms; it most clearly declared the promised land in Joshua.

But we have before said, that mystically John was the type of the Law, which was the forerunner of Christ. John then sends his disciples to Christ, that they might obtain the filling up of their knowledge, for Christ is the fulfilling of the Law. And perhaps those disciples are the two nations, of whom the one of the Jews believed, the other of the Gentiles believed because they heard. They wished then to see, because blessed are the eyes that see. But when they shall have come to the Gospel, and found that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, then shall they say, "We have seen with our eyes," for we seem to ourselves to see Him whom we read of. Or perhaps through the instrumentality (operatrice) of a certain part of our Body a we all seem to have traced out the course of our Lord's passion; for faith comes through the few to the many. The Law then announces that Christ will come, the writings of the Gospel prove that He has come.

And his disciples reported to John concerning all these things. Not with a sincere heart, I think, but driven by envy, John's disciples reported to him the virtues and miracles of Christ. For elsewhere they are found complaining to him thus: Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him (John III). To which John then replied: A man cannot receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven, etc. And he clearly declares both that he is a mere man and that Christ is the Son of God. But since envy and jealousy remained, and could not be expelled, observe what the excellent teacher still did to correct them.

Not, as it seems to me, in simpleness of heart, but provoked by envy. For in another place also they complain, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come unto him. (John 3:26.)

Now this proclamation of fame, although it was for many a cause of believing, was nevertheless for some an occasion of derision, as for the disciples of John, with respect to whom it is added: And his disciples reported to John concerning all these things. Bede: "Not with a simple heart, but spurred by envy, as elsewhere, namely in John three, they complain saying: Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—behold, he baptizes, and all come to him." Concerning such persons, in Philippians one: "Some preach Christ out of contention, not sincerely." From this therefore was taken the occasion of inquiring whether he himself was the one whom John had foretold, both for the sake of uprooting the envy of the disciples, and for the sake of putting the contention to rest, and for the sake of removing their doubt, and also for the sake of now more clearly spreading abroad the truth itself.

Certain of His disciples relate to the holy Baptist the miracle which was known to all the inhabitants of Judæa and Galilee, as it follows, And they told John, &c.

But we are then most raised up to Him when we are fallen into straits. John therefore, being cast into prison, takes the opportunity, when his disciples were most in need of Jesus, to send them to Christ. For it follows, And John calling two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come, &c.

That, then, was no celestial thing which furnished no celestial (endowments): whereas the very thing which was celestial in John-the Spirit of prophecy-so completely failed, after the transfer of the whole Spirit to the Lord, that he presently sent to inquire whether He whom he had himself preached, whom he had pointed out when coming to him, were "HE." And so "the baptism of repentance" was dealt with as if it were a candidate for the remission and sanctification shortly about to follow in Christ: for in that John used to preach "baptism for the remission of sins," the declaration was made with reference to future remission; if it be true, (as it is, ) that repentance is antecedent, remission subsequent; and this is "preparing the way.

But how could it come to pass, that Him of whom he said, Behold him who taketh away the sins of the world, he should still not believe to be the Son of God? For either it is presumption to attribute to Christ a divine action ignorantly, or it is unbelief to have doubted concerning the Son of God. But some suppose of John himself that he was indeed so great a prophet as to acknowledge Christ, but still as not a doubting, but pious, prophet disbelieved that He would die, whom he believed was about to come. Not therefore in his faith but in his piety, he doubted; as Peter also, when he said, Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee. (Mat 16:22.)

And John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord, saying: Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Namely, so that at least through this occasion, by seeing the signs he was doing, they might believe in him, and, with the master asking, learn for themselves. Therefore he does not say, Are you the one who has come, but are you the one who is to come? And the meaning is: Command me, because being about to be killed by Herod, and to descend to the underworld, whether I should announce you even in the underworld, as I announced you to those above, or whether it is not fitting for the Son of God to taste death, and you will send another to these sacraments.

He says not, Art thou He that hast come, but, Art thou he that should come. The sense is, Tell me who am to be slain by Herod, and about to descend into hell, (ad inferna) whether I should announce Thee to the souls below as I have announced Thee to those above? or is this not befitting the Son of God, and Thou art going to send another for these sacraments?

There follows therefore secondly the putting forth of the question from John's office, when it is said: And John called two of his disciples and sent them to Jesus. For this pertains to his office, the sending of disciples to Christ. For it is the office of the Precursor to send to Christ equally by word and by office, that is, both by preaching and by baptizing, according to what is said in Acts nineteen: "John baptized with the baptism of penance, saying that they should believe in him who was to come." Whence the Gloss: "He sent them to Jesus, so that by this occasion they might see the signs, and being corrected might believe in him." And Ambrose: "He sent his disciples to Christ, so that they might attain the supplement of knowledge, because Christ is the fullness of the Law, and because words without deeds usually waver, so that a fuller faith might be displayed through the testimonies of deeds than through the pledges of words." Whence he was sending them to the Truth, so that they themselves might be made certain through the truth, and having been made certain might render testimony to the truth; and therefore he sent two, because, according to that passage in John eight, you say that "the testimony of two men is true." — Because, however, they still doubted, therefore he gives them the form of inquiry, when it is added: Saying: Are you he who is to come, that is, whom I foretold was to come: John one; "After me comes he who was made before me," and in the other Evangelists. Or do we look for another? As if to say: if you are he, then another is not to be expected, lest perchance, if we look for another, we receive not Christ but antichrist, concerning whom the Lord says to the unbelieving Jews in John five: "I came in the name of my Father, and you did not receive me; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive."

And there are three departments of counsel: That which takes examples from past times; as what the Hebrews suffered when they worshipped the golden calf, and what they suffered when they committed fornication, and the like. The second, whose meaning is understood from the present times, as being apprehended by perception; as it was said to those who asked the Lord, "If He was the Christ, or shall we wait for another? Go and tell John, the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised up; and blessed is he who shall not be offended in Me." Such was that which David said when he prophesied, "As we have heard, so have we seen." And the third department of counsel consists of what is future, by which we are bidden guard against what is to happen; as also that was said, "They that fall into sins shall be cast into outer darkness, where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth," and the like. So that from these things it is clear that the Lord, going the round of all the methods of curative treatment, calls humanity to salvation.

But we must altogether disallow such an opinion. For no where do we find the Holy Scriptures stating that John the Baptist foretold to those souls in hell the coming of our Saviour. It is also true to say, that the Baptist was not ignorant of the wonderful mystery of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, and so also along with the other things had known this, that our Lord was about to preach the Gospel to those who were in hell, after He had tasted death for all living as well as dead. But since the word of holy Scripture indeed declared that Christ would come as the Lord and Chief, but the others were sent as servants before Him, therefore was the Lord and Saviour of all called by the prophets, He who cometh, or Who is to come; according to that, Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord; (Ps. 118:26.) and, A little while, and he who is to come shall come, and will not tarry. (Hab. 2:3.) The blessed Baptist therefore, receiving as it were this name from Holy Scripture, sent certain of his disciples to seek whether it was indeed He who cometh, or, Who is to come.

John sent them to him not to interrogate him, but rather that the Lord might confirm those former things that John had proclaimed to them. John was directing the minds of his disciples toward the Lord.… He sent them out in such a way that, having seen Jesus' miracles, they might be confirmed in their faith in him.

We must inquire, dearly beloved brethren, why John—a prophet and more than a prophet, who pointed out the Lord coming to the baptism at the Jordan, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world"; who, considering both his own humility and the power of Christ's divinity, says: "He who is of the earth speaks of the earth, but he who comes from heaven is above all"—why, when placed in prison and sending his disciples, he asks: "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" As if he did not know the one he had pointed out, and did not know whether he was the one whom he had proclaimed by prophesying, baptizing, and pointing him out. But this question is quickly resolved if the time and order of events is considered. For standing at the waters of the Jordan, he declared that this was the Redeemer of the world; but sent to prison, he asks whether he himself is coming—not because he doubts that he is the Redeemer of the world, but he asks in order to know whether he who had come into the world by himself would also descend by himself to the prison of hell. For he whom John had announced to the world as his forerunner, he was now preceding to hell by dying. Therefore he says: "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" As if he were openly saying: Just as you deigned to be born for mankind, indicate whether you also deign to die for mankind, so that I who have been the forerunner of your birth may also become the forerunner of your death, and may announce to hell that you are coming, whom I have already announced as having come to the world.

There is subjoined moreover thirdly the report of the question put forth through the ministry of the disciples, when it is added: And when the men had come to him. These two men were prefigured by the two spies sent beyond the Jordan, Joshua two. These are called men, because they manfully and faithfully fulfilled what had been commanded to them. Whence it is added: They said: John the Baptist sent us to you, so that we might inquire of you in his person. Which he notes, when he adds: Saying: Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another? Whence note that this question is proposed by the disciples in the person of John, to show that the disciples bear a doubting mind within themselves, but through John are directed to Christ.

Hence John did not pose the question on his own account, because he did not doubt in himself, but in his disciples. And this is what Chrysostom says: "Since he had learned by the Spirit, who had heard the voice of the Father, who had preached to the rest, who had borne witness, how could he doubt after so many miracles, through which he had become known to many? Had he perhaps become more timid on account of his imprisonment? Far be it, since the Lord says of him that he is not a reed shaken by the wind." Hence he did not doubt, but put forth the words of one doubting for the certainty of his disciples, just as it is said in John 11: "Where have you laid him?" and in John 6: "Whence shall we buy bread?" Gregory, however, holds that he doubted and inquired not about the first coming, of which he was certain, but about the descent into hell, in which he still had to precede Christ. Ambrose, for his part, holds that he doubted not from unbelief or slowness, like the disciples, "but from a certain piety," as is said in the Gloss.

Inasmuch as Christ by nature and in truth is God, the purpose of John did not escape Him, but as well knowing the cause of his disciples' coming, He especially at that particular time began accomplishing divine miracles many times more numerous than those which He had hitherto wrought. For so the wise Evangelist has told us, saying, "In that same hour He healed many of sicknessess and of scourges, and of evil spirits: and gave sight to many that were blind." Having then been made spectators and eyewitnesses of His greatness, and gathered into them a great admiration of His power and ability, they bring forward the question, and beg in John's name to be informed, whether He is He Who cometh.

(Thes. lib. 11. c. 4.) Or he asks the question by economy. For as the forerunner he knew the mystery of Christ's passion, but that his disciples might be convinced how great was the excellence of the Saviour, he sent the more understanding of them, instructing them to enquire and learn from the very words of the Saviour, whether it was He who was expected; as it is added, But when the men were come unto him, they said, John the Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou He, &c.

Why does John send his disciples to the Lord to ask him: Are you the one who is coming, or should we expect another? (Matthew 11:3 and Luke 7:20) When he had previously said about the same person: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) We have spoken more fully on this question in the Commentaries of Matthew. Therefore, it is clear that you do not have these books yourself, since you ask such questions. However, we must briefly summarize so as not to seem completely silent. John sent his disciples while he was in prison, seeking to learn from them, and about to be beheaded, to teach them to follow the one whom he acknowledged as the master of all through his questioning. For he could not be unaware of him whom he had shown to those who were unaware, and of whom he had said, "He who has a bride is the bridegroom" (John 3:29); and "I am not worthy to bear his sandals" (Matthew 3:11); and "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 1:27). And he heard the Father thundering out: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased (Ibid. 3:30). But what he says: Art Thou He that shall come, or look we for another? (Matth. 3: 17). This utterance too may have this meaning: I know that Thou art He Who hast come to take away the sins of the world; but because I am to descend into hell, I ask this also of Thee, whether Thou too wilt descend thither, or is it impious to believe this of the Son of God, and wilt Thou send another thither? This, however, I wish to know, that I who have proclaimed Thee among men on earth, may also in hell proclaim Thee, if Thou art perchance coming. For Thou it is Who hast come to loose the captives, and to set free them that were bound. The Lord, understanding the purport of his inquiry, answered rather through works than by word, and bade John be told that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and (what is greater than these) the poor have the Gospel preached to them (Matth. 11; Luc. 7). The poor, however, are distinguished either by humility or by riches so that no difference in salvation exists between the poor man and the rich man, but all are called equally. And it is inferred: "Blessed is he who is not scandalized in me" (Matthew 11:6), he who strikes not John but his disciples who had first come to him, saying: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" (Mark 18; and Luke 5:33). And to John: "Master, you bear witness concerning him near Jordan. Behold, his disciples baptize, and many come to him" (John 3:26). With these words, he indicates jealousy about the size of the signs which comes from biting envy why should the one who was baptized by John dare to baptize? and a much larger crowd gathers to him than had previously come to John. And lest the people, unknowingly, think that John is being blackened because of what was said, he delivers a speech in his praise and begins to speak to the surrounding crowds about John: What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A man clothed in soft clothing (Matthew 11:7-8; Luke 7:24-25)? and so on. The sense of this statement is as follows: Did you come out into the wilderness to see a man, like a reed shaken by the wind, being bent in various directions? Let him doubt now about whom he had previously praised, and concerning whom he had previously said, Behold the Lamb of God, let him now ask whether he is the one himself, or whether another one will come or is coming. And because every false preaching seeks profit and strives for human glory, so that gains may be born through glory: he affirms, wearing clothing made of camel's hair, that no one can yield to flattery; and he who feeds on locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3: 4), does not seek riches or other earthly pleasures, avoids the rigid and austere life of the palace, which those who are clothed with purple and fine linen and silk and soft feathers seek. And he says that he is not only a prophet who is accustomed to predicting the future, but he is more than a prophet, because the one whom they had said would come, he has shown has come, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) : especially since he has attained the privilege of the prophetic summit of John; that he who had said, I ought to be baptized by you (Matthew 3:14), himself has baptized him: not by the presumption of being greater, but by the obedience of the disciple and the fear of the servant. And although he affirms that among those born of women, no one greater has arisen than John (Matthew 11:11), he mentions himself, who was born of a virgin, as being greater: or he precedes all men on earth before every angel in heaven, who is least. For we progress into angels; and not angels into us, just as some snoring heavily dream. Nor is this enough in the praises of John, unless he who preached the baptism of repentance, is first reported to have said: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:1) . From the days of his preaching, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence (Ibid. 11.12); such as that man is born. He desires to be an angel; and an earthly animal seeks a heavenly abode. For the Law and the Prophets prophesied up to John (Ibid. 13): not that John is the end of the Prophets and the Law, but he who was preached by the testimony of John. But according to the mystery which is written in Malachy (chapter 4, verse 5), John is Elijah who is coming (Matthew 11:14): not that the same soul (as the heretics suspect) was in Elijah and in John, but that he had the same grace of the Holy Spirit, girded with a belt like Elijah, living in the desert like Elijah, suffering persecution from Herodias as he endured from Jezebel: just as Elijah was the precursor of the second coming, so John welcomed the Lord Savior who was coming in the flesh, not only in the wilderness but even in his mother's womb, and announced it with the joy of his body.

With this fear, therefore, even John asks the question, "Art thou He that should come, or look we for another? " -simply inquiring whether He was come as He whom he was looking for.

An ample testimony surely by which the Prophet might recognise the Lord. For of the, Lord Himself it was prophesied, that the Lord giveth food to the hungry, raiseth up them that are bowed down, looseth the prisoners, openeth the eyes of the blind, and that he who doeth these things shall reign for ever. (Ps. 146:7-10.) Such then are not the tokens of human, but divine power. But these are found seldom or not at all before the Gospel. Tobias alone received sight, and this was the cure of an Angel, not of a man. (Tob. 11.) Elias raised the dead, but he prayed and wept, our Lord commanded. (1 Kings 17) Elisha caused the cleansing of a leper: yet then the cause was not so much in the authority of the command as in the figure of the mystery. (2 Kings 5.)

In that very hour, He cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and He granted sight to many who were blind. John had sent his disciples to ask: Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? Christ demonstrated signs, not by directly answering what was asked, but to address the concerns of the messengers.

In that very hour, etc. After the question proposed, he adds the solution to the question, for the removal of the disciples' doubt and the confirmation of John's testimony. In which the Lord responds most perfectly, namely to the question and to the one asking and to every objector.

First indeed he responds to the question by performing miracles, through which it is proved that he himself is the Christ or Messiah; and on this account it is said: In that very hour, namely of the arrival of the disciples, which was indeed the hour for making truth known, according to that passage in Romans 13: "It is the hour for us now to rise from sleep," etc.; therefore in this hour, to make the truth known, he healed many. As a figure of this, it is said of Simon, the son of Onias, in Sirach 50: "He healed his nation and delivered it from destruction." And because the power of miracles is considered not only in the multitude of those healed and on the part of the persons, but also on the part of the diseases, therefore it is added that he healed from manifold illness, namely from infirmities, with regard to the prolonged nature of disease: Sirach 10: "A prolonged illness burdens the physician. A brief illness the physician cuts short," so that thus might be fulfilled that passage of Isaiah 53: "Truly he himself bore our infirmities and he himself carried our sicknesses." — From afflictions, with regard to the severity of disease, according to that passage in Jeremiah 30: "With the blow of an enemy I have struck you, with cruel chastisement." From these the Lord healed, as is petitioned in the Psalm: "Remove from me your scourges," etc. And from evil spirits, as regards the assault of external violence, which occurs through an evil spirit: 1 Kings sixteen: "An evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul." — And to many who were blind he gave sight, in which is noted the defect of intrinsic power, so that that word of Isaiah twenty-nine might be fulfilled: "Out of darkness and gloom the eyes of the blind shall see." And through these things he manifests that he is the one who was to come: John five: "You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth. But I have a greater testimony." "And the works that I do, they bear witness of me."

Spiritually, note here that from the cure of diseases presently exhibited is understood the perfect cure from original sin; but from the cure of diseases reported to John, the perfect cure from actual sin.

As to the cure from original sin, note that for one to be perfectly cured, it is necessary that a cure and healing be accomplished from four things which were inflicted on account of original sin, namely from concupiscence, impotence, malice, and ignorance. And these four are designated by the cure of four kinds of infirmities. For concupiscence is understood by languor, on account of its universal adherence, according to that of Isaiah 1: "Every head is languid, and every heart is sorrowful." Impotence, by the wound: Jeremiah 10: "Woe to me for my destruction! My wound is most grievous." By the evil spirit is understood wickedness; First Kings 16: "An evil spirit troubled Saul." By blindness, ignorance: Isaiah 59: "We have groped as blind men at noonday"; and Isaiah 56: "His watchmen are all blind." In the cure, therefore, of this fourfold infirmity is understood the perfect cure of original sin.

As for the perfect cure from actual sin, note that in the consummation of impiety in actual sin there are five degrees. The first is deviation in choosing, and this is designated by blindness: Lamentations 4: "The blind have wandered in the streets"; because "error and darkness were created together with sinners," according to Sirach 11. The second is disorder in pursuing, which is understood through the lame: Psalm: "Strange children have grown old and have limped from their paths"; whence 3 Kings 18: "How long do you halt between two sides?" etc. The third is contagion in associating, which is understood through leprosy: Deuteronomy 24: "Observe diligently, lest you incur the plague of leprosy"; Ezekiel 36: "Be cleansed from all your defilements." The fourth is obstinacy in persisting, which is understood through deafness, according to the Psalm: "Like the deaf asp that stops its ears." The fifth is despair in despising, because "the wicked man, when he has come into the depth of sins, despises," Proverbs 18. And this is designated by death: Isaiah 28: "We have struck a covenant with death"; and this "is the sin unto death," of which is spoken in 1 John 5.

From all these the power of Christ cures through his grace, which was designated in the pool, of which it is said in John 5, that "the Angel of the Lord descended, and the water was moved, and whoever descended first was made whole, from whatever infirmity held him." And this is "the power that went out from him and healed all," according to what is said above in chapter six.

"In that same hour he healed many of sicknesses and of scourges, and of evil spirits; and gave sight to many that were blind." He made them spectators and eyewitnesses of his greatness and gathered into them a great admiration of his power and ability.

But He knowing as God with what intention John had sent them, and the cause of their coming, was at the time performing many miracles, as it follows, And in the same hour he healed many of their infirmities, &c.

Hence also, when the Lord was asked, after enumerating the miracles of his power, he immediately responded about the humility of his death, saying: "The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise, the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not scandalized in me." Seeing so many signs and such great powers, no one could be scandalized, but only marvel.

He was in doubt whether He was actually come whom all men were looking for; whom, moreover, they ought to have recognised by His predicted works, even as the Lord sent word to John, that it was by means of these very works that He was to be recognised. Now, inasmuch as these predictions evidently related to the Creator's Christ-as we have proved in the examination of each of them-it was perverse enough, if he gave himself out to be not the Christ of the Creator, and rested the proof of his statement on those very evidences whereby he was urging his claims to be received as the Creator's Christ.

Therefore, God Himself is justified through baptism, as humans justify themselves by confessing their own sins, as it is written: 'Declare your iniquities, so that you may be justified' (Isaiah 43:26). He is justified in this, because He is not refuted by stubbornness, but His gift is acknowledged through His righteousness: 'The LORD is righteous, and He loves righteousness' (Psalm 11:8). Therefore, the justification of God is seen in this, that it appears not to unworthy and guilty ones, but to innocent ones made clean through washing and that His gifts have been transferred to the righteous. Let us justify the Lord, so that we may be justified by the Lord.

God is justified by baptism, wherein men justify themselves confessing their sins. For he that sins and confesses his sin unto God, justifies God, submitting himself to Him who overcometh, and hoping for grace from Him; God therefore is justified by baptism, in which there is confession and pardon of sin.

And all the people, hearing this, and the tax collectors, justified God, baptized with the baptism of John. God himself is justified through baptism, as men justify themselves by confessing their own sins, as it is written: 'Declare your iniquities, that you may be justified.' And He is justified in that He is not refuted through obstinacy, but His gift is acknowledged by the justice of God. For the Lord is righteous, and He loves justices (Psalm X). Therefore, the justification of God is in this, that He appears to have transferred His gifts not to the unworthy and harmful, but to those made innocent and just through purification. David also says: 'Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged' (Psalm L). Therefore he who sins and confesses his sin to God justifies God, yielding to Him who prevails, and hoping for grace from Him. In baptism, therefore, God is justified, in which there is both confession and forgiveness of sins.

And all the people hearing etc. Here fourthly, so that nothing may be lacking to the commendation of John, he is commended by the Lord with respect to the proclamation of his fame. And since the fame of the good is salutary to the elect and pernicious to the reprobate, according to that passage of Second Corinthians two: "We are the good odor of Christ unto God, in those who are saved and in those who perish: to some indeed the odor of death unto death, to others the odor of life unto life"; therefore he commends in a twofold manner the proclamation of fame in John: first by showing it salutary to believers, second deadly to despisers. For to the first John appeared praiseworthy, but to the second contemptible: the first were humble and the second proud.

First therefore he introduces the commendation of John from the humble who assented, when he says: And all the people hearing, namely John preaching, justified God, that is, declared Him to be just, showing themselves to be unjust, confessing their sins, according to that passage of the Psalm: "That you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged." For the sinner, when he confesses his sin, declares God just and justifies himself, according to that passage of Isaiah forty-three: "Tell, if you have anything, that you may be justified"; another translation: "Declare you first your iniquities, that you may be justified." And in this manner the publicans and sinners did, hearing John, according to that passage of Matthew three: "All Jerusalem went out to him, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan, to be baptized by him, confessing their sins." For these two things are required for the justification of sinners, namely penance and baptism. — And therefore he adds: Having been baptized with the baptism of John: above in chapter three: "And the publicans also came to be baptized," seeking from him what they should do: whence by sign and word they approved John as an angel of God and held his name in glory. Whence when the Lord asked of the Pharisees in Matthew twenty-one: "The baptism of John, whence was it, from heaven or from men?" they said among themselves: "If we say: From heaven, he will say to us: Why then did you not believe him? But if we say: From men, we fear the crowd: for all held John as a Prophet." And therefore it is added: "The publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of heaven."

There was perchance a sort of game among the Jewish children, something of this kind. A troop of youths was divided into two parts: who, making sport of the confusion in the world, and the uneven course of its affairs, and the painful and rapid change from one extreme to the other, played some of them on instruments of music: while the rest wailed. But neither did the mourners share the merriment of those who were playing music and rejoicing: nor again did those with the instruments of music join in the sorrow of those who were weeping: and finally, they reproached one another with their want of sympathy, so to speak, and absence of affection. For the one party would say, "We have played unto you, and ye have not danced:" to which the others would rejoin, "We have wailed unto you, and ye have not wept." Christ declares, therefore, that both the Jewish populace, and their rulers, were in some such state of feeling as this; "For John came, He says, neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and they say, that he hath a devil: the Son of man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold! a man gluttonous, and a wine drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners." By what then wilt thou be won unto the faith, O foolish Pharisee, when thou thus blamest all things indifferently, nor countest anything worthy of thy praise?

Because also they believed, they justified God, for He appeared just to them in all that He did.

(Hom. 37. in Matt.) Having declared the praises of John, he next exposes the great fault of the Pharisees and lawyers, who would not after the publicans receive the baptism of John. Hence it is said, And all the people that heard him, and the Publicans, justified God.

Let us not then despise (as the Pharisees did) the counsel of God, which is in the baptism of John, that is, the counsel which the Angel of great counsel searches out. (Is. 9:6. LXX.) No one despises the counsel of man. Who then shall reject the counsel of God?

But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected the counsel of God for themselves, not being baptized by him. What it says "for themselves" or "against themselves," signifies that he who rejects the grace of God acts against himself, or the counsel of God sent by themselves is rebuked by the foolish and ungrateful for refusing to accept it. Therefore, the counsel of God is that through the passion and death of the Lord Jesus, He decreed to save the world. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected this, spurning the secret and saving mystery, the beginnings of which had gone before in the preaching and baptism of John, but nevertheless unknowingly and unwillingly serving that same counsel, as the apostle Peter, speaking of the Lord, says to them: "This one, delivered up according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, by the hands of lawless men, you nailed to a cross and put to death" (Acts 2).

These words were spoken either in the person of the Evangelist, or, as some think, of the Saviour; but when he says, against themselves, he means that he who rejects the grace of God, does it against himself. Or, they are blamed as foolish and ungrateful for being unwilling to receive the counsel of God, sent to themselves. The counsel then is of God, because He ordained salvation by the passion and death of Christ, which the Pharisees and lawyers despised.

The evil counselor is he who converts great things into nothing, as those who say that the counsels of God are evil and worthless. Such counselors were the Pharisees and Lawyers, of whom it is said: 'The Pharisees and the Lawyers rejected the counsel of God.' Would that there were none such now!

Second, he adds the contempt of John by the proud Pharisees, when he says: But the Pharisees, in whom was the pride of sanctity, and the experts of the law, in whom was the arrogance of knowledge of the truth, despised the counsel of God against themselves, not having been baptized by him, because, according to that passage below in chapter ten, "he who despises you despises me." Whence those who despised John, who was God's messenger, despised the divine counsel. Such were the Pharisees, so that the Wisdom of God could reproach them: "You have despised all our counsel"; and that passage of Isaiah chapter one was verified in them: "I have nourished and brought up children, but they have despised me." And therefore the Apostle counseled in First Thessalonians, last chapter: "Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecies." — But in this they despised the divine counsel, because they refused baptism, through which divine wisdom counseled for human salvation. A figure of this preceded in the ark of Noah constructed during the flood, Genesis chapter six. On account of which it is said in First Peter chapter three: "Which also now saves you in a similar form, namely baptism."

And note that the Pharisees despised the counsel of God against themselves for six reasons. First, because they preferred human statutes to divine ones: Matthew chapter fifteen: "Why do you transgress the Law of God for the sake of your tradition?" — Second, because they preferred the justice of the Law to the justice of faith: Romans chapter ten: "Being ignorant of God's justice and seeking to establish their own," etc. Third, because they preferred appearance to truth: Matthew chapter twenty-three: "Woe to you! who cleanse what is on the outside." — Fourth, because they preferred affluence to poverty: below in chapter sixteen: "The Pharisees, who were avaricious, heard all these things and derided him," etc. — Fifth, because they preferred vain glory to humility: John chapter twelve: "They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God." Sixth, because they preferred advantage to uprightness: Matthew chapter twenty-three: "Woe to you! who say: Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated. Fools and blind," etc.

But the disobedient conduct of the Pharisees in not receiving John, accorded not with the words of the prophet, That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest. (Ps. 51:4.) Hence it follows, But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God, &c.

It is our task to pay diligent attention to the mind, so that it becomes clear-sighted, becoming perfect through appropriate exercises, while it is God's gift that the Spirit should illuminate us for the comprehension of his mysteries. The prophet puts "vision" first in his account and then introduces his report of the words, in order to show that he did not receive it through the faculty of hearing but is proclaiming the meaning of the word that has been impressed on his mind. For we need voice to indicate our thoughts, but God, affecting directly the very ruling aspect of the soul in those who are worthy, impresses on them the knowledge of his own will.

The word of the holy prophets is always difficult to surmise. It is filled with hidden meanings and is pregnant with announcements of divine mysteries. The end of the law and prophets is Christ, as Scripture says. Those who want to expound these subtle matters must be diligent, I believe, to work in a logical way to thoroughly examine all of the symbols in the text to gain spiritual insight. First, the interpreter must determine the historical meaning and then interpret the spiritual meaning, in order for readers to derive benefit from every part of the text. The exposition must be clearly seen to be complete in every way.

A "vision," he says, not ordinary or perceptible with physical eyes, but a prophetic vision of things to come in far distant times; for just as one sees in a great tablet the invasion of enemies, ravagings of countryside, sieges of cities and enslavements of people, represented with the brilliance of color, the same way he seems to see a dream, but not a vision in sleep, when the divine spirit enlightens the soul.

[The heading] indicated the ages of the kings, since there was a different state of affairs among the Jews, and events were to transpire in the distant future which never entered the mind or suspicion of the people of that time. Furthermore, it needs to be noted that the whole book, which only seems to be a single composition, was actually spoken over long periods of time, since there was need of extensive and precise understanding to discern the future, to determine the meaning of the events of the time and to suit the prophecy for the events that occurred in each reign. For the age of these kings covered fifty years in all, during which the things contained in this whole book were spoken.

Under Egypt he meant the world, and under things made with hands its idolatry, and under the shaking its subversion and dissolution. And the Lord, the Word, he represented as upon a light cloud, referring to that most pure tabernacle, in which setting up His throne, our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to shake error.

When Hezekiah, king of Judah, was still sick and weeping, there came an angel, and said to him: "I have seen thy tears, and I have heard thy voice. Behold, I add unto thy time fifteen years. And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord: Behold, I turn back the shadow of the degrees of the house of thy father, by which the sun has gone down, the ten degrees by which the shadow has gone down," so that day be a day of thirty-two hours. For when the sun had run its course to the tenth hour, it returned again. And again, when Joshua the son of Nun was fighting against the Amorites, when the sun was now inclining to its setting, and the battle was being pressed closely, Joshua, being anxious lest the heathen host should escape on the descent of night, cried out, saying, "Sun, stand thou still in Gibeon; and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon," until I vanquish this people. And the sun stood still, and the moon, in their places, so that day was one of twenty-four hours. And in the time of Hezekiah the moon also turned back along with the sun, that there might be no collision between the two elemental bodies, by their bearing against each other in defiance of law. And Merodach the Chaldean, king of Babylon, being struck with amazement at that time-for he studied the science of astrology, and measured the courses of these bodies carefully-on learning the cause, sent a letter and gifts to Hezekiah, just as also the wise men from the east did to Christ.

No one, when he will have seen the Prophets to be written in verses, would think them to be bound in meter among the Hebrews, and to have anything in common with the Psalms or the works of Solomon. But what is customary to be used in Demosthenes and Cicero, as they are written in words with divisions, who certainly wrote prose and not in verses, we also, providing ease of reading, have divided a new translation with a new kind of writing. And first, knowing of Isaiah what is presented in his speech, certainly as a man noble and of urbane elegance he does not have anything of rusticity mixed into (his) speech. For this reason it happens that in comparison with others the translation was not able to preserve the flower of his speech. And then adding this, that it is being spoken not only by a prophet, but by an evangelist. For thus all the mysteries of Christ and the Church are pursued to clarity, so that you would not think them to be prophesied of the future, but they covered the history of things past. For this reason I suppose the Seventy interpreters to have been unwilling at that that time to set forth clearly for the gentiles the sacraments of their faith, not throwing holy things to dogs or pearls to swine, which things, when you will have read this edition, you will note were hidden by them. Nor am I unaware of how much work it is to understand the Prophets, or for anyone not to be easily able to judge from the translation, unless he will have before understood those things which he will have read, and we to suffer from the bites of many, who, being goaded by jealousy, what they are not able to follow, they despise. Therefore, knowing and being wise, I place my hand in the fire, and nevertheless I pray this for the scornful readers: that just as the Greeks after the Seventy translators read Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, either for study of their doctrines or so that they better understand the Seventy through their collation, that these are deemed worthy to have at least one translator after the earlier ones. Reading first and afterward despising, they are seen not to condemn by judgment, but rather by the ignorant presumption of hatred. And Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem and Judea when the ten tribes had not yet been led into captivity, and the oracle covered both kingdoms, now together, now separately. And while he sometimes looks at present history, and indicated the return of the people to Judea after the Babylonian captivity, yet is all his concern for the calling of the nations and for the coming of Christ. Who, how much the more you love, O Paula and Eustochium, the more strive for him, so that for the present disparagement, by which the envious incessantly tear me into pieces, the same One may restore a reward to me in the future, Who knows me to have exerted myself in the learning of foreign languages: the Jews might not jump all day on the errors of the Scriptures in His Church.

[Isaiah] should be called an evangelist rather than a prophet, because he describes all the mysteries of Christ and the church so clearly that one would think he is composing a history of what has already happened rather than prophesying what is to come.

(Chapter 1, Verse 1) The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. For Judah, in which two tribes are signified, the Seventy and Theodotion have translated 'Judah,' which signifies the entire land of the twelve tribes. And because we translate from Hebrew, 'concerning Judah and Jerusalem,' they have interpreted it as 'against Judah and Jerusalem.' Symmachus, in his own way, more clearly, 'concerning Judah and Jerusalem,' so that he does not want to indicate either prosperity or adversity by the title, but what the prophetic discourse has foretold about Judah and Jerusalem in both respects. Therefore, Isaiah primarily speaks about two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, excluding the ten tribes that were in Samaria and were called Ephraim and Israel; and those that under the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, and Jerusalem, the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser, had already begun to devastate. Finally, in the fifty-second year of his reign, when Pekah, the son of Remaliah, was reigning in Samaria, Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, came and captured Aijon and Abel, the house of Maacah, and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he resettled them in Assyria (2 Kings 15:18-19). From this it is shown that all these things are narrated as a warning by the neighboring destruction of Samaria to the two tribes.

But Ozias himself is the same person who is also called Azarias with a double name. And indeed, at the same time we know that Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, and Amos prophesied, from the kings who are mentioned in the title. But the beginning of the word of the Lord was with Hosea, son of Beeri. However, Amos is the father of Isaiah, not as most people think, he is the third of the twelve Prophets, but another; they are written in different letters among the Hebrews. This one has the first and last letters Aleph and Sade (); that one has Ainet Samech (): and this one is interpreted by some as strength or robust; that one as a hard or heavy people: about which we have spoken more fully in Amos. Not only this prophet, but also others with the title 'Vision seen by Isaiah or Obadiah' do not reveal what they saw. For example: 'I saw the Lord of hosts sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the two seraphim were around Him.' But what was said, they tell, that is, 'Hear, heaven, and listen, earth' (Isa. 6:1-2). And: 'This is what the Lord God says to Edom. I have heard an announcement from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent to the nations' (Obad. 1:1). For the prophets were previously called seers, who were able to say: Our eyes are always towards the Lord (Psalm 14:15). And: To you, I lift up my eyes, you who are enthroned in heaven (Psalm 123:1). Therefore, the Savior commanded the Apostles: Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already white for harvest (John 4:35). The bride in the Song of Songs also had these eyes of the heart, to whom the bridegroom says: You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, with one glance of your eyes (Song of Songs 4:9). And in the Gospel we read: The light of your body is your eye (Matt. VI, 22). It is also said in the old Scriptures that the people saw the voice of God (Exod. XX, 18). From this, the delusions of the Montanists are silenced, who in their ecstasy thought that the prophets spoke of future events from a deranged mind, for they could not see what they were ignorant of. I know that some interpret Judah and Jerusalem to mean heavenly things, and Isaiah to represent the Lord Savior: that it foreshadows the captivity of that province in our land, and later the return and ascent to the holy mountain in the last days. We despise everything that is contrary to the Christian faith, judging it, and following the truth of history, we interpret it spiritually so that whatever they dream about the heavenly Jerusalem, we refer it to the Church of Christ, and to those who either leave it because of sin or return to the original seat because of repentance, and also because we consider that this is said in the same Prophet: 'Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall be acceptable on my altar, and I will glorify my glorious house.'

And it is stated in the title that he prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. This is not to be understood in a confused manner like in other prophets, so that we do not know what was said under which specific king. Rather, it is referred to the end of the book to indicate what was separately revealed to him by the Lord under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Let us also know that Hezekiah began to reign in Jerusalem in the 12th year of Romulus, who founded a city in Italy bearing his name, so that it is clear how much older our histories are than those of other nations. Isaiah is interpreted as the Savior of the Lord; Judah, the confession; Jerusalem, the vision of peace; Uzziah, the strength of the Lord; Jotham, the perfection of the Lord; Ahaz, the one who holds or is strong; Hezekiah, the rule of the Lord. Therefore, whoever is saved with the Lord presiding is the son of Amos, that is, strong and mighty; he spiritually perceives the vision of confession while lamenting the ancient sins, and the peace while moving from repentance to light, and he rests in eternal peace. And all his times pass under the strength, perfection, and power of the Lord. And when he has done all things, he will say that evangelical saying: We are useless servants: for what we ought to have done, we have done (Luke 17:10).

17. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos. This book is divided into two parts:

into a preface,

and a treatise, which begins where it says, hear, O you heavens (Isa 1:2).

The preface is introduced like a title to make the work that follows manifest. It is made manifest, however, from four things:

first, from the genus of the work;

second, from the author, where it says, Isaiah;

third, from the matter, where it says, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem;

fourth, from the time, where it says, in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Judah.

The genus of the work is shown where it says the vision, in which it differs from historical books, because it is prophecy: I have multiplied visions, and it continues: I have used similitudes by the hands of the prophets (Hos 12:10).

18. Here it is necessary to see three things:

first, in what way vision relates to prophecy;

second, concerning the modes of prophetic vision;

third, concerning the difference of prophetic vision from other visions.

Concerning the first, it should be known that "prophecy" can have a double interpretation, in as far as it can come from phanos, which means "apparition," or from for, faris ("to speak").

According to the first derivation, a prophet is said to have an apparition of things which are far off; and hence, prophecy differs from vision in mode, because apparition signifies the relation of the visible thing to the one who sees, but vision signifies the converse. Again, prophecy and vision relate to each other by addition: because a vision may be of anything, but prophecy is of things which are far off. Things are said to be far off from our knowledge in two ways; simply, and relatively. Future things that are contingent on something are far off simply; determinate knowledge of them cannot be grasped either in themselves or in their causes, and prophecy is properly of these things. Things are far off relatively when knowledge of them is separated from the knower, as certain past and present things, and prophecy is of these things not simply, but with respect to those who are ignorant of them.

But according to the second derivation, a prophet is so called because he is speaking far off [procul fans], as it were. And thus prophecy adds upon vision an act of exterior declaration, and vision will be material in respect to prophecy.

19. Concerning the second, it should be known that the modes of prophetic vision are distinguished according to those things in which foreknowledge of future contingencies are received.

This, however, is either an image made in the senses and is called corporeal vision, because the senses accept images from the present bodies whose images they are; or it is an image received in the imagination and is called spiritual vision, because, in it, act and property are first manifested spiritually, which is to know a thing abstracted from matter; or it is an image existing only in the intellect and is called intellectual vision.

And it should be known that prophecy is kept in these three as a potential whole in its parts, whose nature is that it is in one according its perfect power, and in the others there is a certain participation and mode of it; just as in the soul, because its whole power is preserved in the rational soul, the sensitive soul does not have the perfect power of the soul, and still less the vegetative soul. Because of this, Gregory says that plants do not live by soul but by vigor. Similarly, corporeal and spiritual (or imaginary) vision also are certain kinds of prophecy, but they cannot be called true prophecies unless intellectual vision is added, in which is the complete notion of prophecy: for there is need of understanding in a vision (Dan 10:1), which is preceded by: and he (that is, Daniel) understood the word. "Vision," however, is first and properly applied to corporeal vision. And because all our knowledge comes from the senses, among which vision is the most powerful both in subtlety and universality, because it shows us more differences of things; therefore the name of seeing is transferred to other interior kinds of knowledge.

20. Concerning the third, it should be known that not every intellectual vision is prophetic vision.

For there is a certain vision for which the natural light of the intellect suffices, as the contemplation of invisible things by the principles of reason; and philosophers have placed the supreme happiness of man in this contemplation.

Again, there is a certain contemplation to which man is elevated sufficiently by the light of faith, as that of the saints while on earth.

There is also a certain contemplation of the blessed in heaven to which the intellect is elevated by the light of glory, seeing the essence of God, inasmuch as he is the object of beatitude; and this is only found fully or perfectly in heaven, although sometimes one is suddenly elevated to it while existing in this mortal life, as happened in the rapture of Paul, I know a man in Christ: above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not: God knows), such a one caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2). There the Gloss says that he saw as those who are from the third hierarchy.

However, none of these visions is prophetic vision, because neither natural light nor the light of faith suffices for this vision; but the intellect of the prophet is elevated to it by the light of a gratuitous grace, which is the gift of prophecy, for it does not attain to seeing God as he is the object of beatitude, but as he is the cause [ratio] of things which pertain to the disposition of men in the world. Similarly, not every corporeal or imaginary vision is called prophecy, but only that vision which is made by an image specially ordained by divine power to be a sign of some future thing, whether he who sees or another receives understanding.

21. The author is touched upon where it says, Isaiah the son of Amos. And although this Amos was a prophet, because he is placed in the title of a prophecy according to the rule of the Hebrews, nevertheless, he is not the Amos who is one of the twelve prophets, because they are written with different letters in Hebrew.

22. The matter is touched upon where he says, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, because of these things that pertain to Judah and Jerusalem, so that concerning [super] is given as of [de] in the translation of Symmachus or as against [contra] in the Septuagint. And Judah is taken for the land of the two tribes, and Jerusalem for the chief city of this region. Or Judah is taken for the lot of Judah and Jerusalem for the lot of Benjamin, because Jerusalem was in Benjamin's lot as to the body of the city, which was on the slope; although as to the top of the mountain, where the tower of David and the temple were, it belonged to the house of God, as can be gathered from Joshua 15.

23. In the days. Here, the work is made known from the time, and four kings are named, in whose time Isaiah proclaimed this prophecy. Hence some divide this book according the times of the kings under whom he received revelation,

so that in the first part are placed the things that were seen in the time of Ozias;

in the second, those that were seen in the time of Joathan, in chapter 6, in the year that king Ozias died;

in the third, the things which were seen in the time of Achaz, from chapter 7 to the end of chapter 14, where is said, in the year that king Achaz died (Isa 14:28);

and from there to the end, the things which were seen in the time of Ezechias.

24. But it is asked: why does he not make mention of the kings of Israel, as Hosea in his title (Hos 1:1) makes mention of Jeroboam, the son of Joas, when they were contemporary?

To this is to be said that Isaiah prophesied principally against the two tribes, and therefore he only has their kings in the title, whereas Hosea prophesied against both Judah and Israel.

25. Likewise, it is asked why no mention is made of Manasseh king of Judah, under whom Isaiah also lived, when it is certain that he did not lose the spirit of prophecy.

To this is to be said that everything which was written in this book, he saw in the times of the prophets, but it was not fitting that a prophecy which is principally of consolation should be ended in a threat, or that the consolation of God should be preached in the time of a bad king who provoked the wrath of God: I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the earth (Jer 15:4).

The one who is [begotten] from another by nature is a true child, just as Isaac was to Abraham, and Joseph was to Jacob, and as the radiance is to the sun. But those who are called children only from virtue and grace are called so not by nature but because of what they have received by grace. They still are not of the same nature as the one who gave them [the gift]. They are the ones who received the Spirit by participation, about whom it is said, "I produced and exalted children, but they rebelled against me." Of course, they were never really children by nature, and because of this and the fact that they reverted [to their former ways], the Spirit was taken away and they were disinherited. But when they again repent, God will receive them again and give them light. He will again call them children who at the beginning had been given grace.

And if they had examined with their understanding the things which were written, they would not have carefully fulfilled the prophecies which were against themselves, so as not to make their city now desolate, grace taken from them, and they themselves without the law, being no longer called children but strangers.

(Version 2.) Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken. Above, it is shown by the title, who the prophet is, whose son, what is against Judah and Jerusalem, or concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and at what time he saw. Now he calls to hear the heavens and the earth. In heaven, representing the heavenly and angelic powers; on earth, the mortal race, metaphorically signifying both those which contain and those which are contained. Whether it be because, through Moses, the Lord had summoned the witnesses of heaven and earth, giving his law to the people of Israel, and had said: 'Listen, heaven, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth' (Deuteronomy 31:1): after the transgression of the people, he summons them again as witnesses, so that all the elements may know that God, justly provoked to anger by the violation of his commandments, punishes. In Hebrew, 'heaven' is called 'Samaim', in the plural form. Especially when it says 'listen', that is, 'Semu', which is pronounced in the plural form, not the singular. But some want to be called heavens in the plural, but understood in the singular, according to that which we call individual cities, Thebes and Athens. And there is the Hebrew language, in which all words ending in Im are masculine and plural, like Cherubim and Seraphim. And words ending in Oth are feminine and plural, like Sabaoth. And it should be noted that heavens is used, hear, earth, perceive with your ears; for those things that are exalted have a greater understanding, while those that are more humble are wrapped in earthly senses. And the Savior in the Gospel says: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. XI, 15). Therefore, if anyone is heavenly and has citizenship in the heavens, let him hear mystically what is being said. If anyone is earthly, let him follow the simple history. Also, it should be noted that he did not say: Hear, heaven, and perceive with your ears, earth, what the Lord has spoken to you; but what he has spoken to me, so that I may recount to you what I have heard in the spirit, since you do not deserve to hear him speaking. Some (Origenists) think that the heavens and the earth are, as it were, animated beings capable of hearing, according to what is said elsewhere about the earth: Who looks on the earth, and makes it tremble (Ps. CIII, 32): whereas this is the power of God, not of earthly intelligence.

I have begotten and exalted sons: but they have despised me. For which Symmachus and Theodotion rendered it thus: I have nourished and exalted sons (Exod. IV, 22). From this place the Prophet relates what the Lord has spoken, that he has turned the people of Israel, whom he had established as servants by a common law, into sons, and has said: My firstborn son is Israel. Finally, the Lord in the Gospel promises the Apostles that if they do his will, he will no longer call them servants, but friends (John XV, 15). But if Israel becomes proud, let him understand that he is called the firstborn, because it signifies that he is followed by second sons from the nations. For he is not called the only begotten who excludes other brothers, but the firstborn, to show that others will follow: and yet according to the mysteries of the Scriptures, it is not the firstborn who receive the inheritance, but the second. Cain was the firstborn, but Abel's offerings pleased God. The firstborn was Ishmael, but Isaac received the inheritance. The firstborn was Esau, but he was cheated out of the father's blessing by Jacob the supplanter. The firstborn was Reuben, but nevertheless the blessing of the seed of Christ was transferred to Judah. Therefore, according to the order of their calling, they were the first, and were called the head: we who were second were called the tail, but now we have been turned into the head, and are called the sons of God. For as many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). We have not received the spirit of bondage in fear, but the spirit of adoption, in which we cry out: Abba, Father (Rom. VIII, 15): because perfect love casts out fear (I John IV, 18). But it is better to read according to the Hebrew, 'I have nourished sons', than 'I have begotten', lest it seem contrary to that saying which we read in the Epistle of John: Whoever is born of God does not sin (I John III, 9). Therefore, if these are born from God, how could they have sinned: since everyone who is born from God cannot sin?

When Moses was going to bring Israel to the Promised Land, he had in full view all that they would do, that they were going to disregard those things he transmitted to them. "Listen, O heaven," he says, "and attend, O earth, to the words out of my mouth." I give you as witnesses to heaven and earth, says Moses, that when you enter the Promised Land and you abandon the Lord God, you will be scattered abroad to all nations. Isaiah came, and the threat was going to be realized. You could not invite the deceased Moses and all those who had formerly heard and had died; so Isaiah calls to mind instead the elements that Moses brought forth as witnesses.

All that exists was created by God, and there is nothing uncreated except the nature of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God, who is good by nature, wishing to have those whom he might benefit and who might enjoy the benefits received from him, made creatures worthy of himself, that is, who could receive him worthily.

Our Lord frequently proclaimed God as a Father to us. He even gave us an instruction "that we call no one on earth father, but the Father whom we have in the heavens." So, in praying ["Our Father"] we are likewise obeying the precept. Those who recognize their Father are blessed! This is the reproach that is brought against Israel, to which the Spirit attests heaven and earth, saying, "I have begotten children, and they have not recognized me."

26. Hear, O you heavens, and give ear, O earth. Here begins the treatise of this book; hence will be accepted a division according to the necessities of the matter. However, it was said above that his intention principally concerns the coming of Christ and the calling of the gentiles; but it is evident that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Ps 24[25]:10). Thus, when Christ was born, it was said by Simeon, behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel (Luke 2:34), and, when the gentiles were entering, it was said by the Apostle, blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in (Rom 11:25). Therefore this book is divided in two parts:

in the first is set out the threat of divine justice for the overthrow of sinners;

in the second, the consolation of divine mercy for the resurrection of the just, where it says: be comforted (ch. 40).

27. The first of these is divided into three parts. For, while he principally speaks concerning Judah and Jerusalem,

in the first part, he threatens the two sinning tribes,

in the second, the others who persecute them: and it came to pass in the days of Achaz (ch. 7);

in the third, he frees them from the enemies who threaten them: behold a king shall reign in justice (ch. 32).

The first of these is divided into two parts:

in the first, he reproaches their fault and threatens corrective punishment;

in the second, he threatens punishment of condemnation to the incorrigible: in the year that king Ozias died (ch. 6).

The first of these is divided into two parts:

in the first, he denounces their fault on the part of what it turns away from;

in the second, on the part of what it turns toward: the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw (ch. 2).

The first of these is divided into two parts:

in the first, he denounces in them the fault of turning away from the worship of God;

in the second, the fault of turning away from justice for one's neighbor, where it says, how is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? (Isa 1:21).

The first of these is divided into three parts:

in the first, he reproves the fault;

in the second, he threatens punishment for the fault, where he says, your land is desolate (Isa 1:7);

in the third, he seeks the remedy of the punishment, where he says, hear the word of the Lord (Isa 1:10).

The first of these is divided into three parts:

in the first, he seeks a witness of the judgment;

in the second, he argues the deformity of the sin, where he says, I have brought up children (Isa 1:2);

in the third, he shows the incorrigibility of the sinners, where he says, for what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? (Isa 1:5).

28. He asks creation to be witness to the judgment of the sin, which was also witness to the obligation of the precept: hear, O you heavens, the things I speak (Deut 32:1). For creation was witness of the obligation to the precept (Deut 32); now, however, it is invoked as judge of the transgression: he shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people (Ps 49[50]:4); but sometimes it is called as an instrument of divine vengeance: creation serving its Creator, will blaze in punishment against the unjust (Wis 16:24).

29. But it seems unsuitable that earth and heaven, which are insensible creatures, should be called to hear.

But it should be said that an insensible creature is called to things which are proper to a rational nature,

to show divine power: I set my bounds around it (Job 38:10); and: he calls those things that are not, as those that are (Rom 4:17);

for evidence of a fact: I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun (2 Sam 12:12); and: I say to you that if these remain silent, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40);

to exaggerate malice: be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and you gates thereof, be very desolate (Jer 2:12);

to magnify joy: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad (Ps 95[96]:11);

to confound sadness: therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish (Hos 4:3), as if to say: your sin is so plain that it is convicted by irrational things, if such a thing could be; and similarly with the others.

Or it is a metonymy, so that heaven is placed for the angels, and earth for men.

30. Heavens, plural for the singular; or because there are literally many heavens and one center which is earth. The Lord has spoken: you should hear him speaking, who made you by speaking: he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created (Ps 148:5). Hear, O you heavens, as though they were distant; give ear, O earth, as though it were near.

31. I have brought up children. Here he shows the deformity of their sin. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he shows the contempt in their affections;

second, he shows the ignorance in their intellect, where he says, the ox knows his owner (Isa 1:3);

third, he shows the distraction in the effect of the deed, where he says, woe to the sinful nation (Isa 1:4).

And this order is followed so that their ignorance is made weightier by their contempt, not so that their ignorance excuse their contempt. He adds to the weight of their contempt by the benefit rendered them.

Hence, concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he brings to mind the benefit;

second, the vice of their ingratitude, where he says, but they have despised me.

He sets out, however, a threefold benefit:

first is the benefit of filial adoption, where he says, sons: Israel is my son, my firstborn (Exod 4:22);

second, the benefit of solicitous education, where it says, I have brought up [enutrivi]: you didst feed [nutrivisti] your people with the food of angels (Wis 16:20);

third, the benefit of their singular exaltation, where it says, and exalted them: showing by the thirst that was then, how you didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries (Wis 11:9).

First, as to the assumption and election of their fathers;

second, in the liberation of their children;

third, in the subjugation of their enemies.

But they have despised me. (Here he places the fault of ingratitude.) As a woman that despises her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me (Jer 3:20).

39. I have brought up children (Isa 1:2). Here three things are to be noted: the benefit of their upbringing, the privilege of their exaltation, and the contempt of their ingratitude. Indeed, he brought them up in the time of the law, when the heir was still a little child (Gal 4:1):

first, refreshing them with promises in the patriarchs: to Abraham were the promises made (Gal 3:16);

second, governing them with judgments in the lawgivers: he has not done in like manner to every nation, and his judgments he has not made manifest to them (Ps 147:20);

third, defending them with helps in the judges and kings: their God will defend them, and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth (Jdt 5:25);

fourth, he taught them with admonitions in the prophets: the Lord has been witness between you, and the wife of your youth (Mal 2:14);

fifth, he corrected them with scourges in their enemies: for it is a token of great goodness, when sinners are not suffered to go on in their ways for a long time, but are presently punished (2 Macc 6:13).

40. But he exalted them in the time of grace:

first, according to the assumption of flesh: for nowhere doth he take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham he takes hold (Heb 2:16);

second, through personal preaching: I was not sent but to the sheep, that are lost of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24);

third, through his own conduct: many good works I have showed you from my Father. For which of those works (John 10:32);

fourth, through the working of miracles: a great prophet is risen up among us: and, God has visited his people (Luke 7:16, John 5);

fifth, through the preaching of his disciples: instead of your fathers, sons are born to you: you shall make them princes over all the earth (Ps 44:17[45:16]).

41. But, on the contrary, they despise the descent of Christ: is not this the son of Joseph? (Luke 4:22);

they reject his teaching: beginning from Galilee to this place, we have found this man perverting our nation (Matt 26:59–68, Luke 23:2, 5);

they blaspheme his life: why doth your master eat with publicans and sinners? (Matt 9:11);

they pervert his miracles: by the prince of devils he casts out devils (Mark 3:22);

they kill his disciples: behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt 10:16).

What is more evident than that it is said of the passion of the Lord: "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's crib." Let us, then, know the Lord's crib where we are nourished, fed and refreshed.

[The righteous person] does not say, "My portion consists of herds of oxen, donkeys or sheep," except, perhaps, he counts himself among those herds which know their owner and wishes to consort with that donkey which does not shun the crib of Christ … [For this person] that sheep is his portion which was led to the slaughter and the "Lamb which was dumb before his shearer and did not open his mouth." In [Christ's] humiliation, judgment has been exalted.

Therefore "Jesus found a donkey and sat upon it." … The donkey's colt upon which no one had sat (for this fact is found in the other Evangelists) we understand as the people of the nations which had not received the Lord's law. However, the donkey (because both beasts were led to the Lord) is his community which came from the people of Israel, clearly not unbroken, but which recognized the Master's manger.

He who fills the world found no room in an inn. Placed in a manger, he became our food. Let the two animals, symbolic of two races, approach the manger, for "the ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib." Do not be ashamed to be God's beast of burden. Carrying Christ, you will not go astray; with him burdening you, you make your way through devious paths. May the Lord rest upon us; may he direct us where he wishes; may we be his beast of burden and thus may we come to Jerusalem. Though he presses upon us, we are not crushed but lifted up; when he leads us, we shall not go astray. Through the Lord may we come to the child so that we may rejoice forever with the child who was born today.

The Leader and Shepherd of shepherds is announced to shepherds, and the food of the faithful lies in the manger of dumb beasts.… For that reason he sat upon the colt of a donkey when he entered Jerusalem amid the praises of the multitude surging around him. Let us understand; let us draw near to the manger; let us eat of this food; let us bear the Lord, our Guide and Leader, so that under his direction we may come to the heavenly Jerusalem.

In the persons of the shepherds and the magi, the ox began to recognize his owner and the donkey his Master's crib. From the Jews came the horned ox, since among them the horns of the cross were prepared for Christ; from the Gentiles came the long-eared donkey, since it was concerning them that the prophecy had been made: "A people, which I knew not, has served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me." For the Owner of the ox and the Master of the donkey lay in a manger, yet he was furnishing common sustenance to both creatures.

The ox from the Jews, the donkey from the Gentiles; both came to the one manger and found the fodder of the Word.

Therefore those oxen magnified the Lord, not themselves. See the ox magnifying his Lord because the ox has acknowledged his owner; observe the ox fearing that the ox's owner may be deserted and confidence be placed in the ox. How he is terrified of those who want to put hope in him!

But, in fact, there were even in that people those that understood, having the faith which was afterwards revealed, not pertaining to the letter of the law but the grace of the Spirit. For they cannot have been without the same faith, who were able to foresee and foretell the revelation that would be in Christ, inasmuch as even those old sacraments were signs of those that should be.

If the love of children for their parents is a natural endowment and if this love is noticeable in the behavior even of brute beasts, as well as in the affection of human beings in early infancy for their mothers, let us not appear to be less rational than infants or more savage than wild beasts by alienating ourselves from him who made us by being unloving toward him.… This gratitude is characteristic not only of humans, but it is also felt by almost all animals, so that they attach themselves to those who have conferred some good upon them.

If even among the barbarians harmony is maintained through subjection to a single leader, what should we think of the disharmony among us and our failure to be subject to the Lord's commands? We should realize that our good God gives us examples to teach us and lead us to conversion. On the great and awesome day of judgment he will use them as a demonstration of the shame and condemnation of those who have not heeded his instruction. He has already said, and he continues to say, "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's manger; but Israel has not known me, and my people have not understood."

By the ox he designates the people of the Jews, who were accustomed to carry the yoke of the law and to ruminate upon its words; by the donkey he represents the people of the nations, who remained always unclean with the stains of idolatry. From both peoples a great many turned to the grace of the gospel and recognized the owner by whom they were created. [They] were seeking by means of his heavenly nourishing fare to grow toward perpetual salvation.

Hence again in Isaiah: "An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master's manger; but Israel does not know, My people has not understood." The ox represents the order of the apostles, wherefore Paul calls himself "a Hebrew of Hebrews": for they were oxen furrowing the earth. The ass was the gentile people.

If the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, we are his servants and farmers, and I do not know how we can fail to recognize him as the owner.

For how shall we not regard it fearful, if one who knows God shall not recognize the Lord? While the ox and the donkey, stupid and foolish animals, will know one who feeds them, Israel is found to be more irrational than these? And having, by Jeremiah, complained against the people on many grounds, God adds, "They have forsaken me, says the Lord."

Isaiah calls to you to know your owner, like the ox, and to know the manger of your Lord, like the donkey.

His mother laid him in a manger. Joseph did not dare to touch him, for he knew he had not been begotten of him. In awe, he rejoiced at a son, but he did not dare to touch the Son.… Why in a manger? That the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled.

Like other Hebrews, Israel does not know its owner, nor does this people understand the cradle of its Lord. Here is the clear meaning: I adopted them as sons and made them a people peculiar to myself, the portion of my inheritance, and I called them my firstborn, but they did not cooperate, because they became dumb beasts to be conquered by favors and to recognize their shepherd and guardian. It does not compare them to dogs because a dog is the most clever kind of animal, which defends the dwelling of its owner for a little food. But the mind of the ox or ass is slower, animals that turn hard clumps of soil while pulling a plow behind some carriages and alleviate the workload of men by bearing heavy loads behind other carriages. Hence they are called beasts of burden, because they assist men. Although this verse can be understood as referring to God the Father, it seems instead to refer to the Son inasmuch as the people of Israel did not recognize him, nor did they receive him whose day Abraham rejoiced to see and on whose advent all the hopes of the prophets hung.

(Verse 3.) The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know; my people do not understand. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And he did not compare them to dogs, which are the most keen-witted species of animals, and they protect their owners' homes for little food: but rather to dumber animals like oxen and donkeys, one of which pulls carts and turns over the toughest clumps of earth with a plow, and the other carries heavy loads and moderates the labor of men while walking: hence they are called 'beasts of burden' from it, because they aid men. This place can be understood to refer to God the Father: but it is more often related to the Son, because the people of Israel did not know him, nor did they receive him: whose day Abraham saw and rejoiced, and for whose coming the hopes of all the prophets depended. And in the Gospel, he speaks to Jerusalem: How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Matt. XXIII, 37)! We ask, where shall we read about the ox and the donkey together? In Deuteronomy it is written: You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together (Deut. XXII, 10). And in the same Isaiah: Blessed is he who sows beside all waters, where the ox and the donkey tread (Isai. XXXII, 20). Ebion, who plows with the ox and the donkey together, is worthy of humble understanding, poverty in his name; he receives the Gospel in such a way that he does not abandon the ceremonies of Jewish superstitions, which preceded in shadow and image. Blessed is he who sows in the words of Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament: and he treads upon the waters of the letters of the setting sun, in order to reap the fruit of the life-giving Spirit. The ox is metaphorically related to Israel, who carried the yoke of the Law, and is a clean animal. The donkey burdened with the weight of sinners represents the people of the Gentiles, to whom the Lord spoke: Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you (Matt. 11:28). Therefore, the Pharisees and Scribes, who did not believe, but had the key and knowledge of the Law, and were truly called Israel, that is, a people seeing God, a part of the Jewish people believed, so that on one day three thousand would believe together, and on another day five thousand. Even the wise of the world, who did not accept the cross of Christ, were received by the unlearned crowd of the nations. Hence the Apostle said: Consider your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble, but what is foolish in the world, God has chosen, to confound the wise; and what is weak in the world, God has chosen, to confound the strong (1 Corinthians 1:26-27). But this is forced, the previous interpretation is true.

Before the cross not even the Jews knew him … while after the cross the whole world flocked to him.

That manger was the one the prophet meant when he said, "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's manger." The ox is a clean animal, and the donkey an unclean one.… The people of Israel did not know the manger of their Lord, but the unclean Gentiles did.… We should strive to recognize the Lord and to be worthy of knowing him. We should strive to appropriate not only his birth and fleshly resurrection but also his anticipated second coming in majesty.

If you did not recognize him soon along with the angels, do acknowledge him now, even though very late, in company with the beasts. Otherwise, while you loiter, you may be deemed less than those very animals with whom you were previously compared.… Yet you argue and quibble with the Jews who turned away from their inns their Master whom the beasts welcomed in their cribs.

Why does the king of the Jews lie in a manger and not repose in the temple? Why is he not resplendent in purple rather than poorly clad rags? Why does he lie hidden in a cave and not on display in the sanctuary? The beasts have received in a manger him whom you have disdained to receive in his house. As it has been written.… But you, O Israel, have not sought out your Master.

They who have long since put aside the worship of God cannot be called the people of God. Neither can that people be said to see God who have denied the Son of God.

32. He adds to the weight of their ignorance, however, through the example of beasts; hence, concerning this, he does two things:

first, he introduces the knowledge of beasts,

second, the ignorance of sinners, where it says, but Israel has not known me.

The ox knows his owner, by a sort of custom of benefit. But Israel: he denounces in them a twofold ignorance,

namely, of the one who commands, when he says, has not known me, contrary to where he had said, his owner; and contrary to the signification of the name Israel—for Israel is interpreted as "seeing God"—they have not known the Father nor me (John 16:3);

and ignorance of the law, my people has not understood; contrary to where he had said, crib, and where he says, people, who are subject to a lawgiver who commands: I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign (Hos 8:12).

I am often astonished at human conduct. Humans are endowed with wisdom and prudence, yet at whim they lightly reject the precepts of discipline. How different is the conduct which we see in the beasts! They avoid vices, carry out commands, submit to control and mold their spirits to perfect obedience. As a result, when need arises, they run against armed legions and charge head downward against the javelins of the foe.…The person who is not aware of the obligation flowing from his condition of being a creature simply does not know God.

Correction is a public rebuke of sin. [God] uses it in a manner that is particularly necessary for our instruction because of the weak faith of so many. For example, he says through Isaiah, "You have forsaken the Lord, you have provoked the holy one of Israel."

Excoriation is the most vigorous expression of disapproval. God employed excoriation as a remedy when he said through Isaiah, "Ah, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children."

(Verse 4) Woe to the sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a wicked offspring, wicked children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backwards. The phrase I placed last, 'they have turned away backwards,' is not found in the Septuagint and instead of 'they have blasphemed,' it is written in them, 'they have provoked to anger.' And instead of 'wicked offspring,' it is translated in the Hebrew as 'wicked ones,' so that the vice of the offspring is not so much a defect of their nature (lest good and evil be thought to have different natures) as it is a result of their wickedness, those who have forsaken the Lord by their own will.

In the beginning of the book, the title mentions the characters, the cause, and the time: in the second part, it captivates the listeners; in the third part, it narrates what the Lord said; in the fourth part, it reproaches the sinful nation, and a people full of or weighed down by injustice. Not that there is another nation and another people, as some think, but it is Israel itself, which is called both nation and people, and is referred to as wicked or unjust sons: those who were first called sons of the Lord through his kindness, but afterwards were called sons of iniquity because of their own fault; or as others have said in agreement, corrupting sons, that is, those who have lost the good of their nature through their own fault. And the text continues: 'They blasphemed the holy Israel, it is said specifically of the Jews, shouting: We have no king but Caesar' (John 19:15); and: 'Is this not the son of the carpenter?' (Matthew 13:55); and, 'He has a demon, and is a Samaritan' (John 8:48). Therefore, because they abandoned Christ and blasphemed the Holy Israel, they were estranged backwards, so that those who were called part and children of God would later be called: 'Alien children have lied to me' (Psalm 18:46). The Savior commanded that, with the plow seized, we do not look back (Luke 9:62), so as not to imitate Lot's wife. Hence the Apostle, stretching out towards the things before, forgets the things that are behind (Philippians 3:13). And what he said according to the Septuagint, to a people full of sins (Zechariah 5:7), shows that there was no kind of sins that the people of Israel did not have. But if we read it as in Hebrew, to a people heavy with iniquity, let us remember the testimony of that, that iniquity sits upon a talent of lead, and it is said from the person of a sinner in the thirty-seventh psalm: My iniquities have been lifted up above my head: As a heavy burden, they have been burdened upon me (Psalm 37:5). We pass through things that are manifest, so that we may linger in those that are more obscure and require explanation.

But when you hear the utterances of the prophets spoken as it were personally, you must not suppose that they are spoken by the inspired themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them. For sometimes He declares things that are to come to pass, in the manner of one who foretells the future; sometimes He speaks as from the person of God the Lord and Father of all; sometimes as from the person of Christ; sometimes as from the person of the people answering the Lord or His Father, just as you can see even in your own writers, one man being the writer of the whole, but introducing the persons who converse. And this the Jews who possessed the books of the prophets did not understand, and therefore did not recognise Christ even when He came, but even hate us who say that He has come, and who prove that, as was predicted, He was crucified by them.

And that this too may be clear to you, there were spoken from the person of the Father through Isaiah the prophet, the following words: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, and My people hath not understood. Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, children that are transgressors, ye have forsaken the Lord."

When Isaiah calls them "evil seed," he does not mean to insult the ancestors of those to whom he was speaking. Rather he was denouncing their own wickedness, just as John the Baptist called the Jewish leaders "a brood of vipers" and the Lord called them "an evil and adulterous generation." They were called these things because they did not preserve the virtuous life of those who went before them.

33. He adds to the weight of the effect of the deed, however, through its confirmed use:

hence he first shows the confirmation,

and second, shows their turning away: they have forsaken the Lord.

He shows the confirmation first through the custom of sin, which gives rise to habit: hence he says, the sinful nation; for a sinner is such out of habit just as a singer is such out of art or office, below: I have called you a transgressor from the womb (Isa 48:8).

Second, through the promptness of sin, which is like a sort of gravity in the sinner: Gregory: a sin which is not washed away by penance quickly draws to another by its own weight; their feet are swift to shed blood (Ps 13:3).

Third, from the succession of sin, because, imitating the sins of their fathers, they have them as if from propagation; hence he says, a wicked seed, that is, seed of the worst, according to another translation: we have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity (Ps 105[106]:6).

Fourth, as to the magnitude of their sins, when he says, ungracious children: slanderers have been in you to shed blood, they have committed wickedness in the midst of you (Ezek 22:9); below, are not you wicked children, a false seed? (Isa 57:4).

(Verse 5). In which way shall I strike you any longer, adding transgression? By this testimony we learn that the Lord strikes sinners in order to correct them, and that the punishment is not so much for retribution as for correction. The meaning is this: I cannot find any medicine that I can apply to your wounds; all your limbs are full of sores; I find no part of your body that has not been struck before. Or certainly in this way: I find no wounds by which I can break your stubbornness. For the greater the tortures are, the more impiety and injustice grows, or as Theodotion translated, the deviation, so that you may depart and deviate from the Lord. Such is that of Jeremiah: I have struck your children without cause: you have not received discipline (Jeremiah II, 30). Hence, he speaks angrily through Hosea: I will not visit your daughters when they commit fornication; and your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (Hosea IV, 14). And in Ezekiel: My jealousy will depart from you, and I will no longer be angry with you (Ezek. 16:42). Of whom we also read in the Psalms: There is no firmament in their hands, and they are not laboring with men, nor will they be scourged with men (Ps. 73:4, 5).

Every head is weary, and every heart mournful. The joy of the soul sometimes alleviates the pain of the body: but if mental distress accompanies physical illness, the weakness is doubled. Among the senses themselves, and all the members of the body, the head occupies the chief place, in which there is sight and smell, hearing and taste. Therefore, when the head aches, all the members are weak. And by metaphor, it teaches that from the leaders to the lowest of the people, from the learned to the ignorant masses, there is no health in anyone: but all unanimously consent in impiety with equal ardor.

From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, there is no soundness in it: wounds, bruises, and oozing sores. The translation has been maintained: from the feet to the head, that is, from the lowest to the highest, from the outermost to the innermost, they are pierced through the whole body. 'Wounds,' he says, 'and bruises, and oozing sores': for either bodies turn blue from beatings, or swell from blows, or gape with wounds. We ask, to what time should these things be adapted? After the Babylonian captivity, under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, Israel returned to Judaea and restored its ancient state. Under various rulers and kings, the temple was rebuilt to be more magnificent, to the extent that even foreign nations, such as the Spartans, Athenians, and Romans, formed alliances. Therefore, when it says, 'There is no soundness in it,' it refers to the ultimate captivity, since from Titus and Vespasian to the final destruction of Jerusalem, under Aelius Hadrianus and up to the present time, there is no remedy. And what is written is fulfilled: 'All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one' (Rom. 3:12). And what is also inferred: there is no health in it, either in the people, or in the body, or in the head.

It shows utter contempt when, even with retributions, [the Israelites] do not become better. But even this is a kind of benefit—to be chastised. For they would have to admit that God not only condemned and rewarded but was also forgiving sinners. And certainly he was coaxing them with rewards and also chastising them with fear of punishments.

Isaiah calls the kings and the leaders the heads and the priests and teachers the heart. For what the heart is to the body, the priests and teachers are for the people, and what the head is for the body, the kings and leaders are for their subjects.

34. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? Here he shows the incorrigibility of their sin, removing a threefold mode of correction.

First, that correction which is through a divine scourge, saying, for what, that is, to what end, you that increase, so that, namely, the greater the correction, the more you increase your sins: in vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction (Jer 2:30).

Second, that which is through the counsel or help of a neighbor, where he says, the whole head is sick, for no one is fit to succor another because of his own weakness.

And he shows this as to the person of the king or prince, saying, the whole head is sick: when you were a little one in your own eyes, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? (1 Sam 15:17).

As to the person of the priest, the whole heart is sad: for the heart receives life first from the soul and transfuses it into the body, as a medium between the soul and the body; just so the priest is a medium between God and the people: you will be to them in those things that pertain to God (Exod 18:19).

As to the person of the private individual, when he says, from the sole of the foot, below: all have turned aside into their own way (Isa 56:11).

35. And it is to be noted that the unfitness of the king is shown in sickness, because he is not able to help by punishing through his power. Seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to extirpate iniquities (Sir 7:6).

The unfitness of the priest, however, is shown in sadness, through which he is made unfit for the sacrifices by which he expiated sins: how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart? (Lev 10:19). Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy (Ps 99[100]:2);

but the private individual is able to correct others by challenging through his example; and therefore he is shown to be unfit through his sin, which is designated in the privation of soundness: they are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together (Ps 15[14]:3); namely, for correction.

Let your exhortations be full of meaning.… Speech is a bandage that ties up the wounds of souls, and if anyone rejects this, he shows his despair of his own salvation. Likewise, with those who are vexed by a serious sore, use the oil of speech that you may soften their hardness of heart; apply a poultice; put on a bandage of salutary advice, so that you may never allow those who are astray or who are wavering regarding the faith or the observance of discipline to perish through the loss of courage and a breakdown of activity.

They had nothing to pour. If they had had any oil, they would have poured it on their own wounds. Isaiah cries, "They cannot apply ointment or oil or bandage." But the church has oil, with which it tends the wounds of its children, that the wound may not harden and spread deep. [The church] has oil which it has received secretly.

You see now how the rebuilding of Jerusalem takes place: the broken heart is mended.… You wound your heart, and the Lord binds your wounds.… It refers to those who are penitent, but of the unrepentant, Scripture says, their wounds "are not drained or bandaged or eased with salve."

(Verse 6) It is not wrapped, nor treated with medicine, nor anointed with oil. For which the LXX translated: It is not to apply a plaster, nor oil, nor bandages. Even today, the wound and swelling of the people of Israel are not wrapped with strips, nor treated with medicine. Which Aquila interpreted as μότωσιν, namely, the little linen cloths that are applied to wounds to dry up pus and extract impurities. Nor was oil applied, so that the hardness of their wounds might be softened by tears of repentance. For the boils, with which the wounds of the Israelites were not at all bound up, the 70 doses were transferred. Therefore, Israel lies wounded and slaughtered because they killed the doctor who had come to heal the house of Israel. Hence, in Jeremiah, the Angels speak tropically under the person of Babylon: We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed (Jeremiah 51:9), namely the city of confusion and vices. And in the Gospel (Luke 10) we read that a man, who was descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, was attacked by robbers and was cared for by a Samaritan. And after the severity of the wine, the softness of the oil poured on his wounds. Therefore, from that place where it was said above: In which I will strike you, and: every weak head, until it is brought to the suffering: There is no healing remedy or soothing oil, the likeness of the translation is preserved, and the description of incurable wounds expresses the eternal captivity of the Jews.

And just as there are some wounds that are cured by emollients, others that are cured by oil and others that need a bandage, there are still other wounds about which it is said, "It is not emollients or oil or bandages; but your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire." So there are some sins that pollute the soul, and for those sins one needs the lye of the Word, the soap of the Word. Yet some sins are not cured this way, because they do not pollute the soul.

Isaiah teaches that there are certain wounds of the soul.… Without doubt, he is speaking about the transgressions of the people, because there are some to whom the medicine of the poultice must still be applied. Others may be sinners in such a degree that no cure can be found for them.

36. Third, where it says, wounds and bruises, he removes the manner of correction which is through human exertion, as when someone is disposed to grace, which blots out sins through good works. Hence he says, wounds, open fault, and bruises, hidden envy, and swelling sores, inflating pride, they are not bound up, by the bond of the law drawing them back: of old time you have broken my yoke, you have burst my bands, and you said: I will not serve (Jer 2:20), as to the first; nor dressed, with healing charity, as to the second: charity covers all sins (Prov 10:12); nor fomented with oil, with soothing humility: the prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased you (Jdt 9:16); the greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things (Sir 3:20); a mild answer breaks wrath (Prov 15:1); can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of? (Judg 9:9).

Isaiah lived almost [two] thousand years ago and saw Zion in a hut. The city was still standing, beautiful with public squares and clothed in honor; yet he says, "Zion shall be plowed like a field," foretelling what has been fulfilled in our day. Observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, "Daughter Zion will be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shed in a melon patch." Now the place is full of melon patches.

What therefore? Have these things not come to be? Have the things announced by you not come to fruition? Is not their land, Judah, desolate? Is the holy place not burned? Are their ways not thrown down? Are their cities not laid waste? Do strangers not devour their lands? Do the Romans not rule over their land?

(Verse 7) Your land is deserted; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your land before your eyes, and it is desolate like a hostile wasteland. These things were partially fulfilled under the Babylonians, with the temple being burned and Jerusalem being destroyed, when the Samaritans possessed the region of the ten tribes, and the promised land was so desolate that it was ravaged by lions. But a more complete and perfect description of what would happen under Roman captivity is given: when the Roman army devastated all of Judea, and the cities were burned, and their land is currently being devoured by foreigners, and the desolation of the Jews will continue until the end of the world. However, we can interpret these things tropologically about sinners who have fallen from their former holiness, after they have been handed over to contrary powers: that all their goods come to a desert: and God does not remember the former righteousness: and they are consumed by the fire of the devil; and they become food for beasts, of whom it is also written in another place: Do not give the soul confessing to you to beasts (Ps. 73, 19).

But since the fruits were removed in this manner, only the drying arbors of the bushes and the cottages remain, the custodian having departed because there is nothing left for him to preserve. Therefore God omnipotent also abandons the temple and causes the city to be deserted. There is no need to prove this with words, especially to us who see Zion deserted and Jerusalem overthrown and the temple leveled to the ground. But the fact that he calls Zion a daughter displays the most clement affection of a parent. Neither is it any wonder that Zion is called a daughter, since Babylon also is frequently referred to as a daughter. For we are all children of God by nature, though we have been alienated from him by our own sins. Analogically, our souls can be called God's vineyard and a paradise of fruits, having God as its custodian provided that the mind, that is, the nous, presides. But if it is plundered by sin as though by wild beasts, then we are forsaken by God the custodian and rendered utterly alone.

Isaiah is not recalling events that have happened but is announcing events in the future. The prophets customarily use fear to demonstrate the truth of what they are saying.

And concerning its desolation, and that no one should be permitted to inhabit it, there was the following prophecy by Isaiah: "Their land is desolate, their enemies consume it before them, and none of them shall dwell therein." And that it is guarded by you lest any one dwell in it, and that death is decreed against a Jew apprehended entering it, you know very well.

Christ ceased to be in them. The Word deserted them.… The Jews were left behind, and salvation passed to the Gentiles. God meant to spur on the Jews with envy. We contemplate God's mysterious plan, how for our salvation he rejected Israel. We ought to be careful. The Jews were rejected for our sake; on our account they were abandoned. We would deserve even greater punishment if we did nothing worthy of our adoption by God and of his mercy. In his mercy God adopted us and made us his sons [children] in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages.

37. Your land is desolate. Here he threatens punishment:

and first, he sets out the judgment of the one who punishes;

second, any solace of consolation, where it says, except the Lord of hosts had left us seed (Isa 1:9).

He sets out a threefold punishment.

First, as to the destruction of their possessions; hence he says, your land is desolate, as to the plains, which thus uncultivated will be as the desert, below: for briers and thorns shall be in all the land (Isa 7:24). Your cities are burnt with fire, as to the cities: and I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem (Amos 2:2); I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation (Jer 4:26).

The second punishment is as to the destruction of the products of the soil: hence he says, your country strangers devour before your face, as to its fruit: it will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you be destroyed (Deut 28:49). It shall be desolate, as to the destruction of trees and vineyards: woe unto us, for we are laid waste (Jer 4:13).

(Verse 8) The daughter of Zion will be abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field. The vineyard, which is called the whole of Israel, is testified to by the Prophet in the following, saying: 'The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; and the man of Judah, a new plant and beloved' (below chapter 5, verse 7); and in the Psalm: 'You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it' (Psalm 80:9). This vine, as long as it brought forth abundant fruits, had God as its guardian, of whom it is written: 'He does not slumber or sleep, who keeps Israel' (Psalm 121:4). But after they had harvested it, everyone passing by the road trampled it down, and a wild boar from the forest ravaged it. The Lord abandoned his temple and, rising up in anger, said, 'Arise, let us leave this place; and let your house be left desolate to you.' (Matt. XXIII, 38). And through Jeremiah: 'I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my inheritance. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; it has roared against me, therefore I hate it.' (Jerem. XII, 7). However, the likeness of the devastation of the Temple and Jerusalem is taken from the farmers, who, as long as the vineyard is full of grapes, place guards in the shade. In the Cucumber House, which they call the guardian of seventy fruits, small huts are built to shield against the heat of the sun and to deflect its rays; and from there, they drive away either the men or the little animals that are accustomed to lurking in the newly grown crops. But when these types of produce have been harvested, only the withered coverings of the bushes and the huts remain, as the guard withdraws because he no longer has anything to protect. So the almighty God abandoned the Temple and made the city deserted: which does not need to be proven by words, especially to us, who see Zion deserted and Jerusalem destroyed, and the Temple completely demolished to the ground. But what he calls the daughter of Zion shows the affection of a most merciful parent. It is not surprising if Zion is called daughter, since even Babylon is often called daughter. For we are all by nature children of God, but by our own fault we become estranged. According to the anagoge, our soul can be called the vineyard of God and the paradise of apples: if our mind, that is, νοῦς, is in charge, it has God as the guardian of the mind; but if our vices have preyed upon us like certain beasts, we are abandoned by the guardian God, and all our things are reduced to solitude.

If the Lord of hosts had not left us seed, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah. This place Paul the Apostle explains more fully to the Romans, writing: I say therefore, has God rejected his people? By no means: For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew (Romans 11:1-2). And a little later: Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5). From this it is shown that the earlier prophetic discourse against Jerusalem and Judah is not referring to the time of the Babylonian captivity, but to the final period of the Romans, when the remnants of the Jewish people were saved in the Apostles; and on one day three thousand believed, and on another five thousand, and the Gospel was spread throughout the whole world. In the Lord of hosts, which we, following Aquila, translate into Latin, it is read in Hebrew as Lord Sabaoth, which the Septuagint interpreters, depending on the context, translate in two ways: either Lord of hosts, or Lord Almighty. And let it be sought whether it is said of the Father or of the Son. There is no doubt that what is read in the twenty-third (or fourth) psalm: Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the king of glory will enter. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts (Psalm 23:7-8), that is, the Lord of powers, he is the king of glory, to be referred to Christ, who after the triumph of his passion ascended to the heavens as the victor. And in another place it is said about the Lord, that he is the king of glory: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (I Cor. II, 8). Therefore, not only according to the Apocalypse of John and the Apostle Paul, but also in the Old Testament, the Lord of hosts, that is, the Almighty, is called Christ. For if all things are the Father's, and as he himself says in the Gospel: All power is given to me in heaven and on earth (Matth. XXVIII, 18); and: All mine are yours, and I am glorified in them; why should not the name of the Almighty also be referred to Christ: so that as God of God, and Lord of Lords, so may the Almighty Son be?

Third, as to the captivity of men: hence he says, the daughter of Zion shall be left, that is, Jerusalem or the temple, from which came the protection of the whole province, as it was solitary and as a covert in a vineyard after the harvest, below: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Judah, his pleasant plant (Isa 5:7); as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, after the last fruits have been collected, through which he signifies their fathers: I saw their fathers like the first fruits of the fig tree in the top thereof (Hos 9:10); as a city that is laid waste, because it was the metropolis: the city is laid waste (Ezek 33:21), said he who had come from Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her (Jer 6:6).

Beware, O Christian, beware of pride. For though you are a follower of the saints, ascribe it always wholly to grace. That there should be any "remnant" in you, the grace of God has brought it to pass, not your own merits.

It was shown above what the prophetic word threatened against Jerusalem and Judah, not pertaining to the time of the Babylonian captivity but to the end of the Romans, when the remnant of the Jewish people were saved in the apostles, and three thousand believed in one day and five thousand on another, and the gospel was spread throughout the entire world. "The Lord of hosts" is our Latin translation, following Aquila, of the Hebrew "Lord of the Sabbath," to which the Septuagint translators gave a double sense: either the Lord of powers or the Lord omnipotent. We also need to ask whether it was said about the Father or about the Son. But there is no doubt what we read in the twenty-third psalm: "Lift up your heads, gates, and be lifted up, eternal doors, and the king of glory will enter! Who is the king of glory? Lord of the sabbath." The Lord of powers, he is the king of glory, referring to Christ, who ascended to heaven as victor after the triumph of the passion. And in another place it says about the Lord, the king of glory: "If they had known him, they never would have crucified the Lord of glory." Not only according to the Apocalypse of John and the apostle Paul, therefore, but also in the Old Testament Christ is named as Lord of the sabbath, that is, Lord omnipotent. For if all things of the Father belong to the Son and, as he himself says in the Gospel, "All power in heaven and on the earth has been given to me" and "All that is mine is yours, and I am glorified in them," why then does the title of omnipotence not also belong to Christ, so that just as he is God of God and Lord of Lord, he would also be the omnipotent Son of the omnipotent One?

He here shows that even the few that were saved were not saved through their own resources. Even they would have perished and suffered like Sodom. That is, they would have been completely destroyed—for Sodom was destroyed root and branch, and not even the smallest seed remained. He means to say that they too would have been like those, except that God demonstrated his goodness to them and saved them by faith. This happened as well in their visible captivity in which most of them were taken captive and perished, in which only a few were saved.

And besides, they beguile themselves and you, supposing that the everlasting kingdom will be assuredly given to those of the dispersion who are of Abraham after the flesh, although they be sinners, and faithless, and disobedient towards God, which the Scriptures have proved is not the case. For if so, Isaiah would never have said this: "And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah." And Ezekiel: "Even if Noah, and Jacob, and Daniel were to pray for sons or daughters, their request should not be granted." But neither shall the father perish for the son, nor the son for the father; but every one for his own sin, and each shall be saved for his own righteousness.

For all the Gentiles were "desolate" of the true God, serving the works of their hands; but the Jews and Samaritans, having the word of God delivered to them by the prophets, and always expecting the Christ, did not recognise Him when He came, except some few, of whom the Spirit of prophecy by Isaiah had predicted that they should be saved. He spoke as from their person: "Except the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah."

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. [Isaiah 1:9] What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

38. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed. Here he sets out consolation from the promise to liberate their seed. The Lord, however, left to them the gathered seed of the flesh, below: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west (Isa 43:5); the promised seed of blessing: to Abraham were the promises made and to his seed (Gal 3:16); the scattered seed of preaching, below: when he shall rush out from Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed (Isa 27:6); the new seed of the saints, below: as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, says the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name (Isa 66:22).

(Verse 10) Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom: listen with your ears to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah. After preserving the remnants of the people of Israel through the Apostles, the Scribes and Pharisees, and the people who cried out: Crucify, crucify him (John 19, 6), the prophetic word turns; and it calls them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, according to what we read in the following: They have declared and shown their iniquity like Sodom. Woe to their souls: for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the just, because he is unprofitable to us (Isaiah 3). Therefore, the rulers are called of Sodom, and the people of Gomorrah, because they have devised an evil counsel, and have bound the just, and have said: We have no king but Caesar (John 19:15). And again: We know that God spoke to Moses: but as for this man, we know not from whence he is (John 9:29). At the same time boasting in the Gospel: We are the seed of Abraham and have never served anyone (John 8:53); they hear from the Lord and Savior: If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham; and again: You were born of the devil as your father, and you want to do the works of your father (ibid., 39). Such a thing Ezekiel also speaks to Jerusalem: Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite (Ezekiel 16:45). The Hebrews say that Isaiah was killed for two reasons: because he called the princes of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah, and because while the Lord was saying to Moses, You cannot see my face (Exodus 33:20), he dared to say, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne (Isaiah 6:1); without considering that the seraphim cover the face and feet of God, or their own, because it is ambiguously read in Hebrew, and Isaiah writes that he only saw the middle part of Him. Therefore, a human being cannot see the face of God. However, angels in the Church always see the face of God, even the faces of the least. And now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. When we progress from being human to being angels, we will be able to say with the Apostle: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Although no creature can see the face of God according to its own nature, it is seen in the mind when it is believed to be invisible.

42. Hear the word of the Lord. Here he gives the medicine for the punishment.

And first, he calls them together to hear;

second, he removes the useless remedy, where it says, to what purpose?;

third, salutary counsel is applied, where it says, wash yourselves, be clean (Isa 1:16).

However, he first calls together the great, saying, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom;

second, the lowly, where it says, people of Gomorrah. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city (Matt 10:15).

But why does he invite those of high degree to hear and those of low degree to receive? Because things which are heard by those of high degree are easily received by those of low degree.

Likewise, when he leaves seed to them, why does he compare them to Sodom and Gomorrah? And to this is to be said that as to the incorrigible he makes this comparison for two reasons:

first, because of the similarity of their sin, below: and they have adhered to strange children (Isa 2:6);

and because of its publication, below: they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it (Isa 3:9).

And while there were five cities, nonetheless he chiefly compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah, because they are chief among the others. And because of this he also compares their princes to the inhabitants of Sodom, because that city was a metropolis, as is evident from Genesis 14. It belongs to princes, however, to hear from the Lord his word and impose the law on the people; and therefore he invites them to hear the word and the people to receive the law.

By saying that he does not delight in the sacrifices of the people, God is saying this: I abound in my own [sacrifice], I do not seek yours, I do not desire whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and of goats. And do not come so into my sight.

How do you hope to find any redemption for your souls through sacrifices that are offered in quantity but with no repentance worth mentioning? For God is merciful not through the blood of animals or through slaughter on the altar but upon the contrite heart. For "the sacrifice to God is a contrite heart."It is fitting for the same to be said to those who are lavish in their expiations but do not repent through their deeds.… Scripture says, "What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?" So it dismisses the multitude and seeks after the single sacrifice.

Observe that God does not say that he does not wish for any blood, but for this particular blood from these particular animals. For he would not say that he does not wish for the blood that was poured out "in the last times for the annulment of sins," "which speaks more effectively than that of Abel," but he changes the sacrifices to the spiritual plane, since "the change of priesthood" is about to happen. For if he rejects the physical sacrifices, he manifestly rejects the high priest according to the law.… They of the stock of Aaron are cast out, therefore, so that he [Christ] according to the order of Melchizedek might enter instead. The "continuous sacrifices" are no more, no more the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement, no more "the ashes of the heifer which purify those that partake." For the sacrifice is one, the Christ, and the mortification of the saints according to him; the sprinkling is one, the bath of regeneration;14 the absolution of sins is one—the blood poured out for the salvation of the world. Because of this God renounces the former things, so that he may establish the latter.

Then came the time of the prophets who showed them clearly that they could not be saved through the Law. Hence, in Isaiah: "Your new moons and festivals I detest. — I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings; in the blood of calves, lambs and goats I find no pleasure." And they killed them, and their followers too, and they received false prophets, thus revealing their malice.

(Verse 11) What use to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full. I do not desire burnt sacrifices of rams, or the fat of fattened cattle, or the blood of bulls, or lambs, or goats. Because they exist, I did not desire them. The Septuagint translates 'I do not desire' as 'I will not desire', using the present tense instead of the past tense. Furthermore, according to the Hebrew, it demonstrates that God never desired the sacrifices of the Jews, as we read in the forty-ninth psalm: I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your flocks. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I have known all the flying creatures of the sky, and the beauty of the field is with me. If I were hungry, I would not say to you: for the world is mine and all its fullness. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? (Psalm 49, seq.) And when he rejected the ceremonies of the old Law, he passed on to the purity of the Gospel and showed what he desires for these things: Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Therefore, the content of this chapter, up to the point where it says: Judge the orphan, defend the widow, and come, let us reason together: it rejects sacrifices of victims and teaches that obedience to the Gospel is a superior sacrifice. And what he brings is to be understood in this sense: I am full, I need nothing: the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1). Therefore, we have all received from his fullness. This can also be understood about those who, not obeying God's precepts, believe they can redeem themselves with gifts and offerings to God: or those who offer stolen goods and ill-gotten gains on the altar and to the poor.

43. To what purpose? Here he shows the uselessness of the remedy which they were applying;

and first, as to the offering of sacrifices;

second, as to the celebration of feasts, where it says, the new moons (Isa 1:13);

third, as to divine prayers, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands (Isa 1:15).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he rejects the sacrifice of living things;

second, the sacrifice of inanimate things, where it says, incense is an abomination to me (Isa 1:13).

In the sacrifices of animals, however, there was one which was allotted whole to the worship of God, as the holocaust, i.e., "all burnt"—from olon, which means "all," and cauma, which means "fire" (Lev 1); the fat which was all offered in sacrifice (Lev 3:3); and the blood which was all poured out (Lev 17:6).

There were certain sacrifices, however, which were allotted partly to the worship of God, partly to the use of the ministers, as the sin offering, except when it was for the sin of a priest or for the multitude (Lev 4:3).

There were also certain other sacrifices from which something was offered to the worship of God, something to the use of the ministers, and something to one who offered, as in the peace offerings, which were offered for thanksgiving or for well-being (Lev 4).

And next, these three are divided in three parts.

44. First, he rejects the sacrifices distributed in three parts, namely, the peace offerings.

And first, he places the rejection, saying, to what purpose . . . to me, that is, for what do you offer to me, the multitude of your victims, as if they were not already mine? And they are called victims, either because the animal is led bound [vinctum] to the priest, or because it is offered for victory [victoria] had or to be had.

Next, he gives the reason for the rejection, saying, I am full, either because of weariness, because the offerings were not good: but to Cain and his offerings he had no respect (Gen 4:5); or because of his dominion: all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen (Ps 49[50]:10).

God seeks us, not what's ours. Anyway, the Christian's sacrifice is alms, or kindness to the poor. That is what makes God lenient toward sins.

(Verse 12.) For who indeed sought these things from your hands? Let the Ebionites hear, who after the passion of Christ think that the Law has been abolished and should be observed. Let the associates of the Ebionites hear, who decree that these things should be observed only by Jews and those of Israelite descent. Therefore, the offering and sacrifice of victims were not primarily sought by God, but so that they would not be made to idols; and so that we might pass from carnal victims, as it were by a type and image, to spiritual sacrifices. But by saying that he did not desire sacrifices, he showed that the law is spiritual: and that all the things that the Jews do in a carnal way are fulfilled spiritually by us.

It is obvious that sacrifices were established as an instruction to inspire right living in the people and were not given as an end in themselves. When the people refused to do those works that were necessary in order to busy themselves with only sacrifices, God said that he would no longer accept the sacrifices.The entire book of Leviticus offers laws that are very strict regarding sacrifices. Moreover, there are numerous laws concerning sacrifices scattered throughout the book of Deuteronomy, as well as other books. How then can God ask, "Who has required these things from your hands?" This is to teach us that God's will was not to make laws in this way but that the people suffered from slothfulness in not abiding by this command.

As for the burdensome sacrifices and the troublesome scrupulousness of their ceremonies and oblations, no one should blame the Jews, as if God specially required them for himself.… But he should see in those sacrifices a careful provision on God's part, which showed his wish to bind to his own religion a people who were prone to idolatry and transgression by that kind of services wherein consisted the superstition of that period. He did this in order to call them away from idolatry, while requesting sacrifices to be performed to himself, as if he desired that no sin should be committed in making idols.

Now this is the spiritual victim which has set aside the earlier sacrifice.… The gospel teaches what God demands. "The hour is coming," he says, "when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth." … We are the true worshipers and true priests who, offering our prayer in the spirit, offer sacrifice in the spirit—that is, prayer—as a victim that is appropriate and acceptable to God; this is what he has demanded and what he has foreordained for himself.

45. Second, he rejects the sacrifices which were offered wholly to God.

And first, he places the rejection of these three animals; and he mentions only three animals, because the sacrifices which were from the herd were made only from these; holocausts were also made from turtledoves and the young of doves, but these were because of the deprivation of poverty, as is evident from Leviticus 1 and 4 and many other passages; and again the use of these was not universal in all sacrifices, since peace offerings were not offered from them.

Next he sets out the reason for the rejection, where it says, when you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts? As if to say, you offend me more walking in my courts and polluting them than your holocaust would please me, thus I do not accept this communion: burnt offering and sin offering you didst not require (Ps 39:7[40:6]); I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them, saying: hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people (Jer 7:22–23).

For actions not done lawfully and piously are not of advantage, though they may be reputed to be so, but they rather argue hypocrisy in those who venture upon them. Therefore, although such persons feign to offer sacrifices, yet they hear from the Father, "Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me"; and although you bring fine flour, it is vanity; incense also is an abomination to me."

How, tell me, can festivals that God hates be intended for continual and uninterrupted observance? Are we to say that God changed his mind, and that ordinances God originally said to be good, when he established them through Moses, are ridiculed by the prophets, so that we must conclude he who enjoined them made a mistake, and that he is subject to the same infirmities that afflict us?… He was in favor of the good for the ancients, but he wished, rather, that by passing from symbols and shadows into the beauty of the truth, they should commend the worship most well pleasing to him, and it is clear that such worship is intellectual and in spirit.

Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead.

I should have some sympathy with the Jewish Sabbath, if it were a Jewish Sabbath... But the absurdity of the modern English convention is that it does not let a man sit still; it only perpetually trips him up when it has forced him to walk about. Our Sabbatarianism does not forbid us to ask a man in Battersea to come and talk in Hertfordshire; it only prevents his getting there. I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with joys, with flowers, and fireworks in the old European style. I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with sorrows. But I cannot imagine any deity being worshipped with inconveniences.

(Ver. 13.) You will not trample on my courtyard. Note that after the devastation of Babylon, the Temple was built again by Zerubbabel: and for many years sacrifices have been offered in the Temple (1 Esdras, 5). Therefore, it indicates the final destruction of the Temple under Vespasian and Titus, which will persist until the end of the world.

Listen to the words of the inspired writer: "Incense is an abomination to me"—as if to suggest the bad intention of the one offering the sacrifice. You see, just as in the present case the good person's virtue transformed the smoke and stench into an odor of fragrance, so in their case the malice of the one making the offering caused the fragrant incense to smell like an abomination. Consequently, let us earnestly take every opportunity, I beseech you, to demonstrate a sound attitude. This, after all, proves responsible for all our good things. You see, the good Lord is accustomed to heed not so much what is done from our own resources as the intention within, on which we depend for our first move in doing these things, and he looks to that in either approving what is done by us or disapproving it. So whether we pray, or fast, or practice almsgiving (these, after all, being our spiritual sacrifices) or perform any other spiritual work, let us begin with a pure intention in performing it so that we may procure a reward worthy of our efforts.

When, from the teaching of ancient doctrine, dearly beloved, we undertake the fast of September to purify our souls and bodies, we are not subjecting ourselves to legal burdens. We are embracing the good use of self-restraint that serves the gospel of Christ. In this too, Christian virtue can "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees," not by making void the law but by rejecting worldly wisdom.

Tell me, you who come to church only on festal days, are the other days not festal days? Are they not the Lord's days? It belongs to the Jews to observe religious ceremonies on fixed and infrequent days.… God hates, therefore, those who think that the festal day of the Lord is on one day.

46. Third, he rejects the sacrifices which were owed to God and the priest, saying: offer sacrifice no more. Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes, in which you have boasted? (Jer 11:15); and: what shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? . . . Shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? (Mic 6:6–7).

47. Incense. Here he rejects offerings of inanimate things, for all of which he places incense, because, among all of them, it was worthier, as thymiama (Exod 30:35), and commoner, as to frankincense, which was set out and added to any such offering, and burned whole to God, below: he that remembers frankincense, as if he should bless an idol (Isa 66:3).

48. But it is objected concerning this that the Gloss says that God never loved their sacrifices, although he commanded that they should be made: and the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and he said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man (Gen 8:21).

And to this it is to be said that in any sacrifice there is something to be considered on the part of the offerer and something on the part of the thing offered.

On the part of the thing offered, our sacrifices please God of themselves, but not the sacrifices of the ancients. And this is because something is said to be pleasing or loved of itself because it has in itself something whence it may be loved, as a virtuous good; but something that is only loved for its relation to another is not said to be loved of itself, as, for instance, being cut or burned is said to be loved, in as far as it is related to the end of health. Our sacrifices, however, contain in themselves the grace of sanctification, according to which they are accepted by God; but the sacraments or sacrifices of the ancients were only signs of these, and therefore they were not loved of themselves.

On the part of the offerer, however, both ours and theirs were able to be accepted out of the devotion of the offerer.

49. Therefore, a fourfold time can be distinguished.

The first is the time before the written law and the idolatry of Israel; and at that time the ancient sacrifices made by the holy patriarchs were pleasing both because of the devotion of the offerer and because of the signification of the thing offered.

The second is the time under the written law; and at that time, after their idolatry, something was added which made the sacrifices displeasing in themselves, for it was not proper that God should be pleased and the devil worshipped at the same time; and on the other hand, one advantage on the part of the offerer was added, that it might be a remedy against idolatry for the people who were prone to it. Hence nothing was commanded concerning sacrifices before the fabrication of the idol, and thus the passage from Jeremiah brought in above is understood.

The third time was under the prophets, when, because of the sins of the people, the sacrifices were now not pleasing on the part of the offerer, but only insofar as they were signs. Hence, following this, they did not please God, but offended him more.

The fourth is the time under grace, when their use is now totally abolished, because with the coming of the reality, the figure has ceased.

50. The new moons, and the sabbaths. Here he removes the celebration of solemnities.

And first, as to the future, he sets out a proposition of prohibition, saying, the new moons: blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity (Ps 80:4[81:3]); sabbaths (Exod 20:8); other festivals: these are the feasts of the Lord which you shall call most solemn and most holy (Lev 23:37). Your assemblies are wicked, below: behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors (Isa 58:3).

Then came the time of the prophets who showed them clearly that they could not be saved through the Law. Hence, in Isaiah: "Your new moons and festivals I detest. — I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings; in the blood of calves, lambs and goats I find no pleasure." And they killed them, and their followers too, and they received false prophets, thus revealing their malice.

Fear and patience, then, are helpers of our faith; and long-suffering and continence are things which fight on our side. While these remain pure in what respects the Lord, Wisdom, Understanding, Science, and Knowledge rejoice along with them. For He hath revealed to us by all the prophets that He needs neither sacrifices, nor burnt-offerings, nor oblations, saying thus, "What is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me, saith the Lord? I am full of burnt-offerings, and desire not the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats, not when ye come to appear before Me: for who hath required these things at your hands? Tread no more My courts, not though ye bring with you fine flour. Incense is a vain abomination unto Me, and your new moons and sabbaths I cannot endure." He has therefore abolished these things, that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of necessity, might have a human oblation.

(Verse 14.) I will not bear your new moons, and sabbaths, and other feasts: your assemblies are wicked. Every gathering that does not offer spiritual sacrifices, and does not listen to what is sung in the fiftieth psalm: A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit: a broken and humbled heart God does not despise, is abominable to God. And therefore it connects and says: Your new moons and solemnities. So that it does not call them their own feasts: but those who misuse them. And as the Seventy translated, fasting and idleness: we can say that fasting is accepted by God, because it does not have the idleness of good works. My soul hates it. Anthropomorphically, not that God has a soul; but it speaks with our affection.

Through this arises the question for us, what sabbath God willed us to keep? For the Scriptures point to an eternal sabbath and a temporal sabbath. For Isaiah the prophet says, "My soul hates your sabbaths," and in another place he says, "My sabbath you have profaned." From which we discern that the temporal sabbath is human and the eternal sabbath is accounted divine.

God has here expressed an aversion to certain sabbaths. By calling them "your sabbaths" he means that the sabbaths he rejects are humanity's, and not his. He rejects them because they were celebrated without the fear of God by a people full of sins who love God "with the lip, not the heart."

Second, where it says, your kalends, as to the present, he sets out hatred, saying: kalends, which are called new moons above; hence, in another Psalm: take up the trumpet at the beginning of the month (80:4[81:3]). The Lord has caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion: and has delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath (Lam 2:6).

Third, as to the past, he sets out weariness, saying, they are become troublesome to me, and he sets out two things:

the gravity of the weight, they are become troublesome: as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me (Ps 37:5);

second, the labor of the carrier: I labor bearing them. Below: you have given me labor with your iniquities (Isa 43:24).

And he speaks of God according to human manner, because it is said to be heavy for man to labor in what does not please him.

O foolish and wretched person, what are you doing? Why do you burden yourself with the weight of greater sins? Why do you inflict injury on God in addition to your contempt? Why, in order to provoke his wrath more quickly in manifestation of your punishment, do you extend to God your crime stained hands when he who has commanded that only holy and unspotted hands be lifted up to him refuses to look at yours? Why do you beseech God with that mouth by which not long ago you spoke evil? Its prayers, however they be multiplied, are an abomination to him.

Let those who do nothing right in life and think they are justified by the length of their prayer listen to these words. For the words of the prayer are not useful by themselves but only when they are offered up with earnest intent. Now the Pharisee also seemed to multiply his supplication. But what does the Scripture say? "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself," not to God, for he turned back toward himself, since at all events he was in the sin of arrogance.

Whenever [those who are lazy] pray to Him, He does not quickly hearken to them, but waits until they grow weary and have learned in no uncertain manner that these things befell them because of their slothfulness and negligence.… Even if this was said of others also, nonetheless it is written especially about those who have abandoned the way of the Lord.

(Verse 15) You have become wearisome to me; I will by no means forgive your sins. Regarding this, Aquila interpreted, 'I labored and endured.' Symmachus, feeling sorry, said, 'I have failed in seeking mercy,' in order to show that he will no longer have compassion, because it is one thing for a servant sent to him to be killed, and another for a Son. We read this same meaning in the prophet Hosea: 'Your destruction, Israel; only in me is your help' (Hosea 13:9). This is understood thus: Perish, Israel, not by your merit, but only by my help are you saved.

Your hands are full of blood. The reason is clear why God turns His eyes away from you and does not listen to your multiplied prayer: because you have shed the blood of the righteous, and the wicked farmers have killed the heir sent to them. Therefore, the Savior speaks to them: And you, fill up the measure of your fathers (Matth. XXIII, 31). For they have killed the messengers sent to them: you kill the Son of the Master of the house. This testimony should be used against those who, while having their hands full of blood with their daily works, join in prayer day and night.

One asks, "What if I have been overcome?" Then cleanse yourself. "How, in what manner?" Weep, groan, give alms, apologize to the one who is offended, reconcile him to yourself in so doing, wash clean your tongue so that you will not offend God more grievously. If someone were to fill his or her hands with dung and embrace your feet asking something of you, you would push that person away with your foot rather than listen. Then why do you draw near to God in such a manner, because in reality the tongue is the hand of the one who prays, and by it we embrace the legs of God.

51. And when you stretch forth. He rejects their prayers.

And first, he places the rejection;

second, the reason for the rejection, where it says, for your hands are full of blood.

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he rejects their prayers as to the sign of devotion, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands: let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens (Lam 3:41); and below: I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good (Isa 65:2);

second, as regards the length of prayer: he that turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination (Prov 28:9).

For your hands are full of blood, which you have shed: their feet are swift to shed blood (Ps 13:3); restrain your foot from their paths. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood (Prov 1:15–16).

He [the one who is fasting] will wash his face, that is, cleanse his heart, with which he will see God, no veil being interposed on account of the infirmity contracted from squalor; but being firm and steadfast, inasmuch as he is pure and guileless.… From the squalor, therefore, by which the eye of God is offended, our face is to be washed.

So present yourself to such a head as a body worthy of him, to such a bridegroom as a worthy bride.… This is the bride of Christ, without stain or wrinkle. Do you wish to have no stain? Do what is written.… Do you wish to have no wrinkle? Stretch yourself on the cross. You see, you do not only need to be washed but also to be stretched, in order to be without stain or wrinkle; because by the washing sins are removed, while by the stretching a desire is created for the future life, which is what Christ was crucified for.

Now they ask wrongly who persevere in sins and ill-advisedly entreat the Lord to forgive them the sins they do not at all forgive [others]. He condemns such as these through [the mouth of] Isaiah.… Still, having regard for such as these, Isaiah shows in what way they can obtain what they plead for when he goes on.

The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, "As I live, says the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;" [Ezekiel 33:11] adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, "Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity." [Ezekiel 18:30] Say to the children of my people, Though your sins reach from earth to heaven, and though they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sack-cloth, yet if you turn to me with your whole heart, and say, Father! I will listen to you, as to a holy people. [2 Chronicles 7:14] And in another place He speaks thus: "Wash you and become clean; put away the wickedness of your souls from before my eyes; cease from your evil ways, and learn to do well; seek out judgment, deliver the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and see that justice is done to the widow; and come, and let us reason together. He declares, Though your sins be like crimson, I will make them white as snow; though they be like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool. And if you be willing and obey me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse, and will not hearken unto me, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." [Isaiah 1:16-20] Desiring, therefore, that all His beloved should be partakers of repentance, He has, by His almighty will, established [these declarations].

For he neglects being clean after washing, whosoever after tears keeps not innocency of life. And they therefore are washed, but are in no wise clean, who cease not to bewail the things they have committed, but commit again things to be bewailed. Hence it is said through Isaiah, Wash you, be ye clean.

Beloved, see how the prophet predicted the washing of baptism. For the person who comes to the washing of regeneration with faith, renounces the devil, joins himself to Christ, denies the enemy, confesses that Christ is God, puts off the bondage and puts on the adoption is the one who emerges from the baptism "as bright as the sun," shining with beams of righteousness and, most importantly, returns a child of God and a joint heir with Christ.

"You are being washed; be clean." Instead of the sacrifices named above and holocausts and the abundance of fat and the blood of bulls and goats, instead of incense and new moons, the sabbath feast day and fastings, festivals and other solemnities, the religion of the gospel is what pleases me, that you would be baptized in my blood through the washing of regeneration, which alone is able to remove sins. For no one will enter the kingdom of heaven who has not been reborn from water and the spirit. And the Lord himself, ascending to the Father, said, "Go and teach all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

(Verse 16.) Wash yourselves, be clean. For the previous sacrifices, and burnt offerings, and the fat of the rich, and the blood of bulls and goats: and for the incense and new moons, sabbaths, feast days and fasts, calends and other solemnities, the religion of the Gospel is pleasing to me: that you may be baptized in my blood through the washing of regeneration, which alone can forgive sins. For unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5) . The Lord himself, ascending to the Father, said: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

Remove the evil of your thoughts from my sight. As John the Baptist said: 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit worthy of repentance.' (Matt. III, 7; Luke III, 7) So, whoever has received Christ's baptism, let them remove evil from their heart and cease to do evil, and afterwards learn to do good, according to what is commanded elsewhere: 'Turn away from evil and do good.' (Ps. XXXVI, 27)

Learn to do good. Therefore virtue must be learned, and the good of nature alone is not sufficient for justice, unless someone is educated in appropriate disciplines (I Pet. II, 11). Jesus also son of Sirach speaks as follows: You have desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will give it to you. And in the following, the same Isaiah mentions: Everyone who has not learned justice on earth will not do truth (Ch. XXVI, 10, sec. LXX). Therefore, justice must be learned, and the thresholds of wise teachers must be worn away.

Let us become as clean as is possible. Let us wash away our sins. And the prophet teaches us how to wash them away, saying, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away from my eyes the evil of your souls." … See that we must first cleanse ourselves, and then God cleanses us. He first said, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean," and then said, "I will make you white." … The power of repentance is then tremendous as it makes us white as snow and wool, even though sin had stained our souls.

I say this, for in the prophet's words he does not mean bathing by water—the Jewish method of purification—but the purifying of the conscience. Let us also, then, be clean.

Let us accept the medicine that obliterates our failures. Repentance is not what is spoken in words but what is confirmed by deeds, the repentance that obliterates the filth of impiety from the heart.… Why "before my eyes"? Because the eyes of people see differently, and the eye of God sees differently.… "Do not adulterate repentance with pretense," he says, "but, before my eyes, which examine what is secret, reveal the fruits of repentance."

52. Wash yourselves. Here he sets out salutary counsel. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he gives the efficacious remedy;

second, the effect of the remedy, where it says, come, and accuse me (Isa 1:18);

third, the punishment for contempt, where it says, but if you will not (Isa 1:20).

The remedy consists in two things:

in fleeing evil

and following good, where it says, learn to do well (Isa 1:17).

Evil is fled in two ways:

through the purgation of past evil; and as to this, he says, wash yourselves: wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you mayst be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in you? (Jer 4:14).

Second, through precaution against future evil, and this comes about in three ways:

that one not think evils in one's heart: be clean: he that loves cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend (Prov 22:11);

that one not fulfill such imagined deeds: take away the evil, namely, the evil deed: woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it (Mic 2:1);

that one not finish evils already begun: cease to do perversely: keep your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst (Jer 2:25); as a swift runner pursuing his course (Jer 2:23).

Do you see the great importance God places on mercy and of standing up for those who have been treated unjustly? We should pursue these good works, and by the grace of God will we receive the blessings to come.

If you must visit someone, prefer to pay honor to orphans, widows and those in want rather than those who enjoy reputation and fame.

If you have pity on the widow, your sins are washed away.

God offers a brief summary through the prophet Isaiah of the honor that widows enjoy in the sight of God.… The Father defends these two types of people [widows and orphans] through divine mercy in proportion to their being destitute of human aid. Look how the widow's benefactor is put on a level with the widow herself, whose champion shall "reason with the Lord."

53. Learn to do well. Here he gives the remedy as to the following of good.

And first, that they learn it;

second, that they fulfill it in deed, where it says, relieve the oppressed.

For someone does good in ordering himself, and as to this he says, learn to do well: be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land uninhabited (Jer 6:8); in regard to one's neighbor, and he says, seek judgment: the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently (Job 29:16); stand on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths (Jer 6:16).

54. Relieve the oppressed. Here he places the fulfillment of the work in assisting the needy. However, one can be made needy either by violence, and as to this he says, relieve the oppressed: deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver (Prov 24:11); or the ignorance of youth: judge for the fatherless: in judging be to the fatherless as a father (Sir 4:10); or the weakness of one's sex: defend the widow: the ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me (Job 29:11).

[One] who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the law and according to the gospel. According to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; according to the gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the gospel he manifested the glory of his resurrection, [one] then whose guilt is remitted is made whiter than snow.

What shall I say of human judgments, since in the judgments of God the Jews are set forth as having offended the Lord in nothing more than violating what was due to widows and the rights of minors? This is proclaimed by the voices of the prophets as the cause that brought upon the Jews the penalty of rejection. This is mentioned as the only cause that will mitigate the wrath of God against their sin, if they honor the widow and execute true judgment for minors. Here also the likeness of the church is foreshadowed. You see, then, holy widows, that that office which is honored by the assistance of divine grace must not be degraded by impure desire.

What is surprising about white garments symbolizing the church?

Humankind has need of God's grace not only to be made just when they are wicked, when they are changed, that is, from wicked to just, and when they are given good in return for evil, but grace must accompany them, and they must lean on it in order not to fall. This is why it is written of the church in the Song of Songs: "Who is this that comes up clad in white, leaning upon her kinsman?" For she who could not do this of herself has been made white. And who has made her white but him who says by the prophet, "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow"? She was not gaining any good merit then at the time she was made white. But now that she has been made white, she walks aright, provided only that she continues to lean upon him who made her white. Accordingly, Jesus himself, upon whom the church leans, now that she has been made white, said to his disciples, "Without me you can do nothing."

The great physician of souls is ready to cure your suffering; he is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all those enslaved by sin.

The Father will be seated, having "his garment white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool." This is spoken anthropomorphically. And the spiritual sense? That he is the King of such as are not defiled with sins. For God says, "Your sins shall be as white as snow, and shall be as wool." Wool is the emblem of forgiveness of sins, as also of innocence.

Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not seen. Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc. In a word, God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white.

Whatever may be the meaning of the contradiction, it is the fact that the only kind of charity which any weak spirit wants, or which any generous spirit feels, is the charity which forgives the sins that are like scarlet.

Now, the profligate is he who wishes to spread this crimson of conscious joy over everything; to have excitement at every moment; to paint everything red. He bursts a thousand barrels of wine to incarnadine the streets; and sometimes (in his last madness) he will butcher beasts and men to dip his gigantic brushes in their blood. For it marks the sacredness of red in nature, that it is secret even when it is ubiquitous, like blood in the human body, which is omnipresent, yet invisible. As long as blood lives it is hidden; it is only dead blood that we see. But the earlier parts of the rake's progress are very natural and amusing. Painting the town red is a delightful thing until it is done. It would be splendid to see the cross of St. Paul's as red as the cross of St. George, and the gallons of red paint running down the dome or dripping from the Nelson Column. But when it is done, when you have painted the town red, an extraordinary thing happens. You cannot see any red at all.

I can see, as in a sort of vision, the successful artist standing in the midst of that frightful city, hung on all sides with the scarlet of his shame. And then, when everything is red, he will long for a red rose in a green hedge and long in vain; he will dream of a red leaf and be unable even to imagine it. He has desecrated the divine colour, and he can no longer see it, though it is all around. I see him, a single black figure against the red-hot hell that he has kindled, where spires and turrets stand up like immobile flames: he is stiffened in a sort of agony of prayer. Then the mercy of Heaven is loosened, and I see one or two flakes of snow very slowly begin to fall.

(Verse 18) Seek justice, come to the aid of the oppressed, judge the orphan, defend the widow; and come, argue with me," says the Lord. The sacrificial laws of the Jews are replaced by the commands of the Gospel, and therefore provision is made for orphans and widows, so that the spouses and children can proceed to war without concern for their protection. But when you do these things, argue with me if I do not give the rewards that I have promised. However, when he says, "Seek justice," he shows that not everyone judges correctly, but only those who are prudent. Finally, Solomon, in a vision through a dream, asked this of the Lord: that having received wisdom, he would justly judge the people.

If your sins are scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and if they are red like crimson, they shall be white as wool. The primary order is this: for it is not enough to say 'be washed', unless it is joined with 'be made clean': so that after the washing of the heart they may have the purity of life. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). And when they have the purity of heart, they must remove evil from their minds, not in the sight of men, but in the sight of God, who can conceal nothing. And that joins: Rest from acting perversely, that Evangelical saying sounds: Behold, you have been made whole: now do not sin, lest something worse happen to you (John 5, 14). Therefore, departing from vices, let him learn what is good, seek judgment, assist the oppressed, support the orphan and the widow: and if he does this, then the sins, which were previously as scarlet, will be forgiven: and the works of blood and flesh will be changed by the garment of the Lord, which is made from the fleece of the Lamb, whom they follow in the Apocalypse (Chapter 5), those who shine with the whiteness of virginity.

Should you have gone all lengths in wickedness, yet say to yourself, God is loving to humanity and desires our salvation.… Let us not therefore give up in despair; for to fall is not so grievous as to lie where we have fallen; nor to be wounded so dreadful as after wounds to refuse healing.… These things I say not to make you more negligent but to prevent your despairing.

Why do you deck out your body while you neglect your soul, enslaved as it is by impurity? Why do you not give as much thought to your soul as to your body? You ought, rather, to give it more care. Beloved, you ought at least to give it an equal amount of thought. Tell me, please, if someone should ask you which you would prefer: for your body to be glowing in health and to excel in beauty but to be clad in mean clothing, or for your body to be crippled and full of disease but adorned with gold and lavishly decked out—would you not choose by far to possess beauty as part of the very nature of your body rather than merely in the outward covering of your clothes? If so, will you make this choice with regard to your body but just the opposite one in the case of your soul? If it is foul and noxious and black, what fruit do you think you will enjoy from your golden ornaments? But what insanity is this?Apply this adornment within yourself and place these necklaces around your soul. For the ornaments placed about the body do not contribute either to its health or its beauty, since they do not make what is white, black—or what is discreditable, beautiful or good-looking. If you place ornaments about your soul, on the contrary, they quickly make it white instead of black, beautiful and comely instead of foul and deformed.

Such therefore being the promises made by God to them that turn to him, don't delay … but draw near to Christ, our loving God, and be enlightened, and your face shall not be ashamed. For as soon as you go down into the bath of holy baptism, all the defilement of the old nature and all the burden of your many sins are buried in the water and pass into nothingness. And you come up from there a new person, pure from all pollution, with no spot or wrinkle of sin upon you.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

In the scarlet color he indicates the blood of the prophets; in the crimson, that of the Lord, as the brighter.

55. And then come. Here he promises the effect, and concerning this he sets out three things.

First, the obligation of the one who promises, where he says, come, and accuse me, as if to say: if you do what I say, and what I promise does not follow, I oblige myself that you should accuse me. Job mourned this: there is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both (9:33).

Second, the ending of evils: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and he promises especially cleansing from sins. Because when the cause has ceased, the effect ceases, he touches on two kinds of sin:

that which is from burning love, which he indicates by scarlet because of its intense redness, against which he places the whiteness of cold snow: if I be washed, as it were, with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever clean (Job 9:30–31);

and that which is from deadening fear, which is indicated by crimson, whose color approaches whiteness, against which he places wool: in the multitude of diverse riches, in wool of the best color (Ezek 27:18); his garment was like white snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool (Dan 7:9).

Scripture promised these good things to the faithful when it said, "You shall eat the good things of the land." That we may obtain the good things, let us be like that good, the good that is without iniquity and without deceit and without severity but is with grace and holiness and purity and benevolence and love and justice. Thus goodness, like a prolific mother, embraces all the virtues.

There is also the Pelagians' second wickedness, for they so attribute free will to their human powers that they believe that they can devise or enact some good of their own accord without God's grace.… You interpret these and similar passages most perversely, believing that people take the first step of their good intentions of their own accord and subsequently obtain the help of the Godhead, so that (to express the matter sacrilegiously) we are the cause of his kindness and he is not the cause of his own.

(Verse 19, 26.) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Free will is preserved, so that on either side, not by the prejudice of God, but by the merits of each individual, there may be either punishment or reward. By the good of the land, I believe those things are meant that we read of in the psalm: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13); and: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:3). Certainly, because he spoke to the Jews, who were not yet able to understand spiritual things, he promises them the goods of the present age, so that they may at least be enticed by the present things and do what is commanded. And because they did not want to listen, but on the contrary provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, therefore the sword devoured them, that is, the Roman army destroyed them. And he says that all these things will happen because the mouth of the Lord has spoken. His judgment, with the sins of men remaining, cannot be changed.

Who understands clearly how the sum of salvation is attributed to our will?…What does this all mean except that in each of these cases both the grace of God and our freedom of will are affirmed, since even by his own activity a person can occasionally be brought to a desire for virtue, but he always needs to be helped by the Lord.

Do you perceive that there is need only of the will? Of the will—not merely that faculty which is the common possession of all people—but good will. To be sure, I know that all people even now wish to fly up to heaven, but it is necessary to bring that desire to fruition by one's works.

Perhaps one will say, "I am willing (and no one is so void of understanding as not to be willing) but to will is not sufficient for me." No, it is sufficient, if you be duly willing and do the deeds of one that is willing. But as it is, you are not greatly willing.…[One] that wills a thing as he ought puts also his hand to the means which lead to the object of his desire.

This passage means the blessings that await the flesh when in the kingdom of God it shall be renewed, and made like the angels, and waiting to obtain the things "which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man."

Third, the restoration of good things is set out: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26[27]:13); you shall eat, below: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry (Isa 65:13).

He who forgives sins is proclaimed to be just and merciful; we know with the greatest of ease that the forgiveness of sins is granted only to the converted, and the punishment of eternal damnation is inflicted only on those who remain in sin.…In Isaiah is found a similar declaration from the divine Word against the recalcitrant who scorn the divine clemency. In this declaration it is made known that one obeys the divine commands not without reason and that one does not remain in evil without punishment.… Who, I ask, is so hard and altogether inert that, in these words of the highest admonition, if he is not called to conversion out of the pleasure of what is promised, he is not at least compelled by the fear of punishment? Salvation will not accept the one who scorns the divine words, but the sword will devour him.

Moreover, we know that even holy people have been given over bodily to Satan or to great sufferings on account of some slight sins. For the divine clemency does not permit the least blemish or stain to be found in them on the day of judgment. According to the words of the prophet, which are in fact God's, he purges away all the dross of their uncleanness in the present so that he may bring them to eternity like fire-tried gold or silver, in need of no penal cleansing.

And that expression, "The sword shall devour you," does not mean that the disobedient shall be slain by the sword, but the sword of God is fire, of which they who choose to do wickedly become the fuel. Wherefore He says, "The sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And if He had spoken concerning a sword that cuts and at once despatches, He would not have said, shall devour.

56. But if you will not. He sets out the punishment for contempt.

And first, he sets out the contempt, saying: but if you will not: as I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath (Zech 8:14).

Second, he threatens the sword of vengeance: the sword shall devour you: I will draw out a sword after them. And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation to rest upon them (Ezek 5:12–13).

Third, he shows that the judgment is immutable: because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed (Num 23:19).

Chapter 11, Verses 1-2. And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished instructing His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. It is not as if He was unaware and asking; for He had already shown the others who were unaware, saying: Behold, the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and He had heard the voice of the Father, thundering: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17). But the Savior asks where Lazarus has been laid, so that those who were indicating the place of the tomb would at least be prepared to see the dead man rising again, and the disciples would be sent to Christ to witness the signs and miracles, so that through this opportunity they would believe in Him and learn from their Master. But the disciples of John, through their pride against the Lord, and their envy and malicious opposition, also revealed their thoughts in a superior manner, as the Evangelist reports: Then the disciples of John approached him, saying: Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast (Ibid., IX, 14)? And in another place: Master, to whom you gave testimony at the Jordan, look, his disciples are baptizing and everyone is coming to him (John III, 26), as if to say: We are being abandoned, there is a scarcity here, while a crowd gathers around him.

(in Luc. 7. 19.) And perhaps the two disciples sent are the two people; those of the Jews, and those of the Gentiles who believed.

(non occ.) The Evangelist had shown above how by Christ's miracles and teaching, both His disciples and the multitudes had been instructed; he now shows how this instruction had reached even to John's disciples, so that they seemed to have some jealousy towards Christ; John, when he had heard in his bonds the works of Christ, sent two of his disciples to say unto him, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?

(non occ.) But it ought to be observed, that Jerome and Gregory did not say that John was to proclaim Christ's coming to the world beneath, to the end that the unbelievers there might be converted to the faith, but that the righteous who abode in expectation of Christ, should be comforted by His near approach.

We must inquire, dearly beloved brethren, why John—a prophet and more than a prophet, who pointed out the Lord coming to the baptism at the Jordan, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world"; who, considering both his own humility and the power of Christ's divinity, says: "He who is of the earth speaks of the earth, but he who comes from heaven is above all"—why, when placed in prison and sending his disciples, he asks: "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" As if he did not know the one he had pointed out, and did not know whether he was the one whom he had proclaimed by prophesying, baptizing, and pointing him out. But this question is quickly resolved if the time and order of events is considered. For standing at the waters of the Jordan, he declared that this was the Redeemer of the world; but sent to prison, he asks whether he himself is coming—not because he doubts that he is the Redeemer of the world, but he asks in order to know whether he who had come into the world by himself would also descend by himself to the prison of hell. For he whom John had announced to the world as his forerunner, he was now preceding to hell by dying. Therefore he says: "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" As if he were openly saying: Just as you deigned to be born for mankind, indicate whether you also deign to die for mankind, so that I who have been the forerunner of your birth may also become the forerunner of your death, and may announce to hell that you are coming, whom I have already announced as having come to the world.

(Hom. in Ev. vi. 1.) We must enquire how John, who is a prophet and more than a prophet, who made known the Lord when He came to be baptized, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world!—why, when he was afterwards cast into prison, he should send his disciples to ask, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? Did he not know Him whom he had pointed out to others; or was he uncertain whether this was He, whom by foretelling, by baptizing, and by making known, he had proclaimed to be He?

(Aug, ubi sup) But this question may be answered in a better way if we attend to the order of time. At the waters of Jordan he had affirmed that this was the Redeemer of the world after he was thrown into prison, he enquires if this was He that should come—not that he doubted that this was the Redeemer of the world, but he asks that he may know whether He who in His own person had come into the world, would in His own person descend also to the world below.

A fuller spiritual meaning is to be found in these actions, which were being accomplished in and through John. Here we behold the efficient power of John's embodied action and also the grace manifest in John. As announced in prophecy: the law rose up and took shape in John. For the law announced Christ, predicted the forgiveness of sins and promised the kingdom of heaven. John thoroughly accomplished all this work that belonged to the law. Therefore when the law (i.e., John) was inactive, oppressed as it was by the sins of the common people and held in chains by the vicious habits of the nation, so that Christ could not be perceived, the law (represented by John) was confined by chains and the prison. But the law (i.e., John) sent others to behold the good news. In this way unbelief would be confronted with the accomplished truth of what had been prophesied. By this means the part of the law that had been chained by the misdeeds of sinners would now be freed through the understanding of the good news freely expressed.

John then is providing not for his own, but his disciples' ignorance; that they might know that it was no other whom he had proclaimed, he sent them to see His works, that the works might establish what John had spoken; and that they should not look for any other Christ, than Him to whom His works had borne testimony.

In these things which were done concerning John, there is a deep store of mystic meaning. The very condition and circumstances of a prophet are themselves a prophecy. John signifies the Law; for the Law proclaimed Christ, preaching remission of sins, and giving promise of the kingdom of heaven. Also when the Law was on the point of expiring, (having been, through the sins of the people, which hindered them from understanding what it spake of Christ, as it were shut up in bonds and in prison,) it sends men to the contemplation of the Gospel, that unbelief might see the truth of its words established by deeds.

But what follows is completely among the controverted points. Of what nature then is this? Their saying, "Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?" That is, he that knew Him before His miracles, he that had learned it of the Spirit, he who had heard it of the Father, he who had proclaimed Him before all men; doth he now send to learn of Him, whether it be Himself or no? And if yet thou didst not know that it is surely He, how thinkest thou thyself credible, affirming as thou dost concerning things, whereof thou art ignorant? For he that is to bear witness to others, must be first worthy of credit himself. Didst thou not say, "I am not meet to loose the latchet of His shoe?" Didst thou not say, "I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and resting upon Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost?" Didst thou not see the Spirit in form of a dove? didst thou not hear the voice? Didst thou not utterly forbid Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of Thee?" Didst thou not say even to thy disciples, "He must increase, I must decrease?" Didst thou not teach all the people, that "He should baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire?" and that He "is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world?" Didst thou not before His signs and miracles proclaim all these things? How then now, when He hath been made manifest to all, and the fame of Him hath gone out everywhere, and dead men have been raised, and devils driven away, and a display made of so great miracles, dost thou after this send to learn of Him?

What then is the fact? Were all these sayings a kind of fraud: a stage play and fables? Nay, who that hath any understanding would say so? I say not, John, who leaped in the womb, who before his own birth proclaimed Him, the citizen of the wilderness, the exhibitor of the conversation of angels; but even though he were one of the common sort, and of them that are utterly outcast, he would not have hesitated, after so many testimonies, both on his own part and on the part of others.

Whence it is evident, that neither did he send as being himself in doubt, nor did he ask in ignorance. Since no one surely could say this, that though he knew it fully, yet on account of his prison he was become rather timid: for neither was he looking to be delivered therefrom, nor if he did look for it, would he have betrayed his duty to God, armed as he was against various kinds of death. For unless he had been prepared for this, he would not have evinced so great courage towards a whole people, practised in shedding blood of prophets; nor would he have rebuked that savage tyrant with so much boldness in the midst of the city and the forum, severely chiding him, as though he were a little child, in hearing of all men. And even if he were grown more timid, how was he not ashamed before his own disciples, in whose presence he had so often borne witness unto Him, but asked his question by them, which he should have done by others? And yet surely he knew full well, that they too were jealous of Christ, and desired to find some handle against Him. And how could he but be abashed before the Jewish people, in whose presence he had proclaimed such high things? Or what advantage accrued to him thereby, towards deliverance from his bonds? For not for Christ's sake had he been cast into prison, nor for having proclaimed His power, but for his own rebuke touching the unlawful marriage.

For what intent then did he send to ask? John's disciples were starting aside from Jesus, and this surely any one may see, and they had always a jealous feeling towards Him. And it is plain, from what they said to their master: "He that was with thee," it is said, "beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come unto Him." And again, "There arose a question between John's disciples and the Jews about purifying." And again they came unto Him, and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not?" For as yet they knew not who Christ was, but imagining Jesus to be a mere man, but John greater than after the manner of man, were vexed at seeing the former held in estimation, but the latter, as he had said, now ceasing. And this hindered them from coming unto Him, their jealousy quite blocking up the access. Now so long as John was with them, he was exhorting them continually and instructing them, and not even so did he persuade them; but when he was now on the point of dying, he uses the more diligence: fearing as he did lest he might leave a foundation for bad doctrine, and they continue broken off from Christ. For as he was diligent even at first to bring to Christ all that pertained to himself; so on his failing to persuade them, now towards his end he does but exert the more zeal.

Now if he had said, "Go ye away unto Him, He is better than I," he would not have persuaded them, minded as they were not easily to be separated from him, but rather he would have been thought to say it out of modesty, and they would have been the more rivetted to him; or if he had held his peace, then again nothing was gained. What then doth he? He waits to hear from them that Christ is working miracles, and not even so doth he admonish them, nor doth he send all, but some two (whom he perhaps knew to be more teachable than the rest); that the inquiry might be made without suspicion, in order that from His acts they might learn the difference between Jesus and himself. And he saith, Go ye, and say, "Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?"

But this seems hardly reasonable. For John was not in ignorance of His death, but was the first to preach it, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. For thus calling Him the Lamb, he plainly shews forth the Cross; and no otherwise than by the Cross did He take away the sins of the world. Also how is he a greater prophet than these, if he knew not those things which all the prophets knew, for Isaiah says, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. (Is. 53:7.)

But is this a more reasonable explanation than the other? for why then did he not say, Art Thou Ho that is coming to the world beneath? and not simply, Art thou he that is to come? And the reason of his seeking to know, namely, that he might preach Him there, is even ridiculous. For the present life is the time of grace, and after death the judgment and punishment; therefore there was no need of a forerunner thither. Again, if the unbelievers who should believe after death should be saved, then none would perish; all would then repent and worship; for every knee shall bow, both of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. (Phil. 2:10)

Yet whilst John was with them he held them rightly convinced concerning Christ. But when he was going to die, he was more concerned on their behalf. For he feared that he might leave his disciples a prey to some pernicious doctrine, and that they should remain separate from Christ, to whom it had been his care to bring all his followers from the beginning. Had he said to them, Depart from me, for He is better than me, he would not have prevailed with them, as they would have supposed that he spoke this in humility, which opinion would have drawn them more closely to him. What then does he? He waits to hear through them that Christ works miracles. Nor did he send all, but two only, (whom perhaps he chose as more ready to believe than the rest,) that the reason of his enquiry might be unsuspected, and that from the things themselves which they should see they might understand the difference between him and Jesus.

About this text, some will argue, "When John sent his disciples, he was neither ignorant himself nor did he mean for them to learn, which seems clear to anyone who has entered to a certain extent into the meaning of the holy Scriptures." But this is foolish, because when John was about to die and join the departed, he sent them to ask whether he was the one who was to come and free those who had been vanquished by death. In this way the good news was delivered to his disciples as well. John had already said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He already knew very well that the Messiah would offer his suffering up to God for the sake of all humanity. Certainly, if John indeed knew that Jesus was the Christ, he was not ignorant of the Christ. On the contrary, he knew exactly what benefits were to come to humanity through him. John might seem to be telling different people different things in different contexts. Isn't it true that John had so much knowledge about Christ that he said a great deal about him to various people? Isn't it true that in accordance with the greater part of what John had said in his own testimony, he recognized Jesus as the deliverer of good news? It is hardly conceivable that John was ignorant about the Christ but now was guessing and wanted to find out for sure from him. That would be inconsistent. And who would, in the attempt to discover something so great, send along his disciples as if they were competent in themselves to teach and witness?There is another point being made here. The present life is the time when we must conduct ourselves responsibly. After death there is judgment and punishment. However, Christ's death did not universally redeem the sins of all those who had already died. For when it is said that the bronze gates and iron bars were shattered, this is said because the body of Christ then appeared immortal for the first time and death was shown to be defeated. What does this mean, then? Were all people unrighteous before the coming of Christ? Not at all. Before Christ it was enough to refrain from idolatry and to worship the one true God in order to be saved. But now that alone is not enough. We must also know Christ personally. And so we must not imagine that someone will confess to Christ in hell, where even if all repent, no one is comforted.

John did not ask as if he himself did not know Christ. How could this be when he had borne witness to Him, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God"? But because his disciples were jealous of Christ, John sent them to acquire more evidence, so that by seeing the miracles they might believe that Christ is greater than John. This is why he himself pretends to ask, "Art Thou He that cometh?" that is, He Whose coming in the flesh is awaited in the Scriptures. Some believe that by saying, "He that cometh," he was asking about the descent into hades, as if, not knowing the answer, John were questioning, "Art Thou He that goeth even into hades, or should we look for another?" But this is foolishness, for how could John, who was greater than the prophets, not know of the crucifixion of Christ and the descent into hades, when he had called Christ the Lamb Who would be sacrificed for us? John knew, therefore, that the Lord would also go down into hades in the soul so that even there, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, He might save those who would have believed if He had become incarnate in their day. John did not ask this because he did not know the answer, but rather because he wanted to provide his disciples with the evidence of Christ's miracles. Look, then, how Christ answers this question:

Now when John heard in prison about the works of Christ. The teaching of Christ has been mentioned and confirmed; the preachers have been instructed. Now the rebellious are calmed: first, he sets John's disciples at rest; secondly, the scribes (c. 14).

In regard to the first he does three things: first, he quiets the doubters; secondly, he rebukes the crowds (v. 16); thirdly, he gives thanks for the apostles' faith (v. 25).

In regard to the first a question is asked; secondly, the answer (v. 4).

He says, therefore: When he heard in prison about the works of Christ. This was the occasion for sending them. The same is presented in Luke (5:18) but in a different order. He says, therefore, that he was in prison as above (c. 4). Then Jesus began to work miracles. And this was fitting, that the sun not appear, while clouds were present: "The law and the prophets until John" (Mt 11:13). The works, i.e., the miracles, of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to say to him. Some try to condemn John for this, because he wondered whether he was the Christ, and it is obvious that one in doubt about the faith is an unbeliever.

Ambrose on Luke says that this was not a question proceeding from unbelief but from piety; for he is not speaking about his coming into the world but of his coming to the Passion. Hence he wonders if he had come to suffer, as Peter said. "This will never happen to you" (Mt 16:22). On the other hand, Chrysostom says that John already knew from the beginning, when he said: "behold the Lamb of God" (Jn 1:28). It is clear, therefore, that he knew him to be a victim to be sacrificed. Hence he is commended here for being more than a prophet; but prophets knew future events. Gregory gives another reason, namely, that it is not a question about coming into the world or to the Passion but about descending into hell; because John was close to the time for going to hell, he wanted to be made certain. Are you he who is to come? But Chrysostom objects to this. For those who are in hell it is a state of punishment; hence it seems that he would have asked this without reason. But this is not contrary to Gregory, because he did not wish to announce conversion to the captives, but to the just, that they might rejoice. Another reason is that the Lord often puts questions, not because he was not sure, but to remove calumny, as in John (11:34) he asked about Lazarus: "Where have you placed him?" not because he did not know, but so those who showed him the tomb could not deny or calumniate. Therefore, it was the same with John. Because his disciples were suspicious of Christ, he sent them, not because he was in doubt, but in order that they not suspect but confess him. But why did he not send them before? Because he was always with them before and assured them; but since he wanted to depart from them, he wanted them to be made certain about Christ.

(in Luc. 7. 19.) Some understand it thus; That it was a great thing that John should be so far a prophet, as to acknowledge Christ, and to preach remission of sin; but that like a pious prophet, he could not think that He whom he had believed to be He that should come, was to suffer death; he doubted therefore though not in faith, yet in love. So Peter also doubted, saying, This be far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee. (Mat. 16:22.)

It is indeed certain, that he who as forerunner proclaimed Christ's coming, as prophet knew Him when He stood before him, and worshipped Him as Confessor when He came to him, could not fall into error from such abundant knowledge. Nor can it be believed that the grace of the Holy Spirit failed him when thrown into prison, seeing He should hereafter minister the light of His power to the Apostles when they were in prison.

John asks this not because he is ignorant but to guide others who are ignorant and to say to them, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" And he had heard the voice of the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Rather, it is the same sort of question as when the Savior asked where Lazarus was buried. The people only meant to show him the tomb, but he wanted them to be brought to faith and see the dead man return to life. Similarly, when John was about to be killed by Herod, he sent his disciples to Christ, intending that when they met him, the disciples would observe his appearance and powers and believe in him, and they would tell this to their teacher when he questioned them.

Why does John send his disciples to the Lord to ask him: Are you the one who is coming, or should we expect another? (Matthew 11:3 and Luke 7:20) When he had previously said about the same person: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) We have spoken more fully on this question in the Commentaries of Matthew. Therefore, it is clear that you do not have these books yourself, since you ask such questions. However, we must briefly summarize so as not to seem completely silent. John sent his disciples while he was in prison, seeking to learn from them, and about to be beheaded, to teach them to follow the one whom he acknowledged as the master of all through his questioning. For he could not be unaware of him whom he had shown to those who were unaware, and of whom he had said, "He who has a bride is the bridegroom" (John 3:29); and "I am not worthy to bear his sandals" (Matthew 3:11); and "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 1:27). And he heard the Father thundering out: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased (Ibid. 3:30). But what he says: Art Thou He that shall come, or look we for another? (Matth. 3: 17). This utterance too may have this meaning: I know that Thou art He Who hast come to take away the sins of the world; but because I am to descend into hell, I ask this also of Thee, whether Thou too wilt descend thither, or is it impious to believe this of the Son of God, and wilt Thou send another thither? This, however, I wish to know, that I who have proclaimed Thee among men on earth, may also in hell proclaim Thee, if Thou art perchance coming. For Thou it is Who hast come to loose the captives, and to set free them that were bound. The Lord, understanding the purport of his inquiry, answered rather through works than by word, and bade John be told that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and (what is greater than these) the poor have the Gospel preached to them (Matth. 11; Luc. 7). The poor, however, are distinguished either by humility or by riches so that no difference in salvation exists between the poor man and the rich man, but all are called equally. And it is inferred: "Blessed is he who is not scandalized in me" (Matthew 11:6), he who strikes not John but his disciples who had first come to him, saying: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" (Mark 18; and Luke 5:33). And to John: "Master, you bear witness concerning him near Jordan. Behold, his disciples baptize, and many come to him" (John 3:26). With these words, he indicates jealousy about the size of the signs which comes from biting envy why should the one who was baptized by John dare to baptize? and a much larger crowd gathers to him than had previously come to John. And lest the people, unknowingly, think that John is being blackened because of what was said, he delivers a speech in his praise and begins to speak to the surrounding crowds about John: What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A man clothed in soft clothing (Matthew 11:7-8; Luke 7:24-25)? and so on. The sense of this statement is as follows: Did you come out into the wilderness to see a man, like a reed shaken by the wind, being bent in various directions? Let him doubt now about whom he had previously praised, and concerning whom he had previously said, Behold the Lamb of God, let him now ask whether he is the one himself, or whether another one will come or is coming. And because every false preaching seeks profit and strives for human glory, so that gains may be born through glory: he affirms, wearing clothing made of camel's hair, that no one can yield to flattery; and he who feeds on locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3: 4), does not seek riches or other earthly pleasures, avoids the rigid and austere life of the palace, which those who are clothed with purple and fine linen and silk and soft feathers seek. And he says that he is not only a prophet who is accustomed to predicting the future, but he is more than a prophet, because the one whom they had said would come, he has shown has come, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) : especially since he has attained the privilege of the prophetic summit of John; that he who had said, I ought to be baptized by you (Matthew 3:14), himself has baptized him: not by the presumption of being greater, but by the obedience of the disciple and the fear of the servant. And although he affirms that among those born of women, no one greater has arisen than John (Matthew 11:11), he mentions himself, who was born of a virgin, as being greater: or he precedes all men on earth before every angel in heaven, who is least. For we progress into angels; and not angels into us, just as some snoring heavily dream. Nor is this enough in the praises of John, unless he who preached the baptism of repentance, is first reported to have said: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:1) . From the days of his preaching, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence (Ibid. 11.12); such as that man is born. He desires to be an angel; and an earthly animal seeks a heavenly abode. For the Law and the Prophets prophesied up to John (Ibid. 13): not that John is the end of the Prophets and the Law, but he who was preached by the testimony of John. But according to the mystery which is written in Malachy (chapter 4, verse 5), John is Elijah who is coming (Matthew 11:14): not that the same soul (as the heretics suspect) was in Elijah and in John, but that he had the same grace of the Holy Spirit, girded with a belt like Elijah, living in the desert like Elijah, suffering persecution from Herodias as he endured from Jezebel: just as Elijah was the precursor of the second coming, so John welcomed the Lord Savior who was coming in the flesh, not only in the wilderness but even in his mother's womb, and announced it with the joy of his body.

(Verse 3.) Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another? He does not say, 'You are the one who has come,' but rather, 'You are the one who is to come.' And the meaning is this: Send to me, because I am about to descend into the underworld, whether I should announce you to the dead, who I have announced to the living? Does it not befit the Son of God to taste death, and to send another to these sacraments?

Hence he frames his question thus, Art thou he that is to come? Not, Art Thou he that hast come? And the sense is, Direct me, since I am about to go down into the lower parts of the earth, whether I shall announce Thee to the spirits beneath also; or whether Thou as the Son of God may not taste death, but will send another to this sacrament?

Therefore he does not ask as being himself ignorant. But as the Saviour asks where Lazarus is buried (John 11:34.), in order that they who shewed. Him the sepulchre might be so far prepared for faith, and believe that the dead was verily raised again—so John, about to be put to death by Herod, sends his disciples to Christ, that by this opportunity of seeing His signs and wonders they might believe on Him, and so might learn through their master's enquiry. But John's disciples had somewhat of bitterness and jealousy towards the Lord, as their former enquiry showed, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

He says, therefore, Are you he who is to come, or look we for another? It is true that our fathers awaited you, as it says in Exodus (c. 4).