Wherefore, when we think of the first founding of creatures, from which works God rested on the seventh day, we ought not to think of those days as like these solar days, nor of that operation as we now think that God works something in time, but rather as He worked so that times might begin—as He worked all things together at once, bestowing upon them an order not by intervals of time but by the connection of causes, so that the things which were made together might also be brought to completion by the sixfold number of that day being represented.
Therefore not in a temporal but in a causal order was first made the formless yet formable matter, both spiritual and corporeal, out of which should be made that which was to be made; since it too, before it was established, did not exist, and was not established save by that supreme and true God from whom are all things. Whether this be signified by the name of heaven and earth, which in the beginning God made before that one day which He founded—already so called because from it heaven and earth were made—or by the name of the invisible and unformed earth and the dark abyss, has already been treated in the first book.
But among those things which have now been formed out of formlessness, and are more evidently called created or made or founded, first was made the day; for it was fitting that that nature should hold the primacy of creation which could recognize the creature through the Creator, not the Creator through the creature. Second, the firmament, whence the corporeal world begins. Third, the appearance of sea and land, and in the land, potentially so to speak, the nature of grasses and trees. For thus the earth at the word of God brought them forth before they had sprung up, receiving all their numbers, which it should put forth through the times according to its kind.
Then, after this dwelling-place of things had been founded, on the fourth day the luminaries and stars were created, so that first the higher part of the world might be set in order for the visible things that move within the world. Fifth, the nature of the waters, because it is joined to sky and air, brought forth at the word of God its own natives—namely all things that swim and fly; and these too potentially, in numbers to be put forth through the fitting motions of the times. Sixth, in like manner the land animals, as the last from the last element of the world, no less potentially, whose numbers time should afterward visibly unfold. All this order of ordered creation that day knew.
And through this knowledge, being as it were made present six times, it exhibited itself as six days, although it is one day—recognizing the things that were made first in the Creator and consequently in themselves, yet not remaining in themselves, but referring even its later knowledge of them to the love of God; and so it afforded evening and morning and noon in all things, not through the delays of time, but on account of the order of the things founded. Lastly, representing the knowledge of the rest of its Creator—because He rests in Himself from all His works—a knowledge in which it has no evening, it deserved on this account to be blessed and sanctified. Whence Scripture commends the very number seven as in a certain manner dedicated to the Holy Spirit, and the Church knows it.
This, then, is the book of the creation of heaven and earth, because in the beginning God made heaven and earth according to a certain formability, so to speak, of matter, which was afterward to be formed by His Word, preceding its own formation not in time but in origin. For indeed, when it was being formed, first was made the day; when the day was made, God made heaven and earth and every green thing of the field before it was upon the earth, and every herb of the field before it sprang up—as we have discussed, or if anything clearer and more fitting could or shall be able to be seen and said. But what follows: 'for God had not rained upon the earth, and there was no man to till the earth'—to what it pertains and what it intimates to us, is difficult to trace out.
It is as though God made the herb of the field before it sprang up for this reason, that He had not yet rained upon the earth; for if He had made the herb after the rain, the rain would seem to have brought it forth rather than He to have made it. And what of it? Does that which springs up after the rain come to be from any other than from the same God? But why was there no man to till the earth? Had He not already made man on the sixth day, and rested on the seventh from all His works? Or does He mention this by way of recapitulation—that when God made every green thing of the field and every herb, He had not yet rained upon the earth, and there was not yet a man? For He made these things on the third day, but man on the sixth. Yet when God made every green thing and every herb of the field, before it sprang up upon the earth, not only was there no man.
to till the earth, but not even the herb itself was upon the earth, which He indeed says was made before it sprang up. Or was it for this reason that God made these things on the third day, because there was not yet a man who by tilling the earth might make them? As though indeed so many trees and so many kinds of herbs were not born from the earth without any human labor! Or was it for this reason that both were set down—both that He had not yet rained upon the earth, and that there was not yet a man to till the earth? For where there is no human work, these are born by rain. But there are some things which are not born even by rain unless human work be added. Therefore now both aids are necessary that all things may be born; but then both were lacking.
Therefore God made these things by the power of His Word without rain and without human labor. For even now He Himself makes them, but now through rain and through the hands of men—although neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but He who gives the increase, God. What then is it that He adds: 'but a spring went up from the earth and watered all the face of the earth'? That spring, flowing with such abundance as the Nile does for Egypt, could serve the whole earth in place of rain. Why then was it commended as something great that God made those growing things before it rained, when the rain could have helped as much as a spring watering the earth? Yet even if somewhat less, those things would perhaps have been born smaller, but not none at all.
Or does Scripture here also, after its manner, speak weakly as to the weak, and yet hint at something which he who is able may understand? For surely, just as on that day mentioned a little above it signified that one day was made by God, and that God then made heaven and earth when the day was made—so that, in whatever way we could, we might think God made all things at once, although the earlier enumeration of six days seemed to show as it were intervals of time—so, when it had said that together with heaven and earth God made every green thing of the field before it was upon the earth, and every herb of the field before it sprang up, it added: 'for God had not yet rained upon the earth, nor was there a man to till the earth'—as though it said:
God did not make those things in the way He now makes such things, when it rains and when men labor. For these now come to be through the delays of time—things which then were not, when He made all things together, whence times too might begin. Therefore what follows—'but a spring went up from the earth and watered all the face of the earth'—from this point, as I judge, is intimated what things come to be according to the intervals of time out of that first founding of creatures, in which all things were made together. And rightly did it begin from that element out of which all kinds are born, whether of animals or of herbs and trees, so that they might carry out their temporal numbers distributed to their proper natures.
For all the first beginnings of seeds, whether whence all flesh or whence all shrubs are begotten, are moist, and grow together out of moisture. But in them there are most efficacious numbers, drawing along with them their attendant powers out of those perfect works of God, from which He rested on the seventh day. Yet what this spring may be, fit to water the whole face of the earth, is deservedly asked. For if it existed and was blocked up or dried up, the cause must be sought. For now we see there is no spring by which the whole face of the earth is watered. Perhaps, then, the sin of men earned even this penalty, that the great abundance of that spring, being checked, took from the lands their most ready fertility, so that the labor of the inhabitants might be increased.
Human conjecture could affirm this, even though no Scripture has narrated it, were it not that this stands in the way: that the sin of men, upon which the penalty of labor was imposed, arose after the delights of paradise; but paradise had its own exceedingly great spring, of which we must speak more diligently later in its own place, from whose single head four great rivers, well known to the nations, are said to flow. Where, then, was this spring or these rivers, when that one greatest spring went up from the earth and watered all the face of the earth? For surely then the Gihon, which is called the Nile—one of those four—did not water Egypt, when the spring went up from the earth and satisfied not Egypt only, but all the face of the earth.
Or must we believe that God first willed to water the whole earth with one greatest spring, so that those things which He had principally founded in it, having received the aid of moisture, might now also be born through temporal spaces according to the diversity of their kinds, even by diverse numbers of days; and afterward, once paradise was planted, that He checked that spring and filled the earth with many springs, as we now see it; and from the one spring of paradise divided four immense rivers, so that both the rest of the earth, full of the kinds of its creatures which carry out the fitting numbers of their times, might have its own springs and rivers, and paradise, planted in a choicer place, might send forth those four rivers from the head of its spring?
Or that from that same one spring of paradise, gushing forth much more abundantly, He first watered the whole earth and made it fruitful for bringing forth through the numbers of the times the kinds which He had created in it without intervals of time; and afterward checked in that place the vastest bursting-forth of the waters, so that they might now flow from diverse heads of rivers and springs throughout all the earth; and then, in the region of that spring which no longer watered the whole earth but sent forth only those four memorable rivers, He planted paradise, where He might place the man whom He had made?
For because not all things were written—how, after that first founding of things, the times ran on and the administrations of creatures followed one another, which creatures were made first and completed on that sixth day; but only as much as the Spirit judged sufficient, who was in the writer of those things which avail not only for the knowledge of things made, but also for the prefiguration of things to come—we, not knowing, make conjecture.
We conjecture what might have happened, which He who was not ignorant passed over, only endeavoring, according to our small measure, so far as we are helped, to bring it about that no absurdity or contradiction be thought to be in the Holy Scriptures—which might offend the opinion of the reader and, while he supposes that those things could not have happened which Scripture records to have happened, might either recoil from faith or not come to faith. Accordingly, when we inquire about this spring, how what was said—'it went up from the earth and watered all the face of the earth'—may not seem impossible, if the things we have said seem impossible to anyone, let him seek some other explanation, by which nevertheless this Scripture may be shown to be true—which beyond doubt is true, even if it be not shown.
For if he should wish to argue in order to prove it false, either he himself will say nothing true about the founding and administration of creatures, or, if he speaks the truth, he will, by not understanding it, think this Scripture false. As if he should contend that the whole face of the earth could not be watered by any single spring, however great, because if it did not water the mountains, it did not water the whole face of the earth; but if it did water even the mountains, then it was no longer a bestowal of nourishment but a flood's inundation—which, if the earth was then such, it was all sea, and the dry land was not yet distinguished. To whom it is answered that this could happen by turns of the seasons, just as at a certain time the Nile floods over the plains of Egypt, and at another time returns to its banks.
Or if that river (I know not of which unknown and far-off part of the world) is believed to gather its yearly increases from the waters and winter frosts, what can be said of the alternating tides of the ocean, what of certain shores which are widely bared by the waves and by turns covered again? To say nothing of what is reported concerning the marvelous alternation of certain springs, that at a fixed interval of years they so overflow as to water that whole region, to which at another time they furnish sufficient water for drinking from deep wells. Why then should it be incredible, if from one head of the abyss, flowing and ebbing by alternate inundation, the whole earth was then watered?
But if Scripture willed to call a spring—not springs—the magnitude of the abyss itself (excepting that part which is called the sea and encircles the lands with evident vastness and bitter waves), in that part alone which the earth contains in its hidden bosoms, whence all springs and rivers distribute themselves by diverse tracts and veins and burst forth each in its own places, on account of the unity of nature; and if it willed to call this spring, ascending from the earth through innumerable ways of caverns and clefts and everywhere, with tresses as it were dispersed, watering all the face of the earth—not in a continuous surface like that of a sea or pool, but as we see the waters go through the channels of rivers and the windings of brooks, and by their overflow to flood the neighboring places—who would not accept this, save one who toils with a contentious spirit?
For indeed the whole face of the earth may also be understood to have been watered in the way one speaks of the whole face of a garment being colored, even if it be done not continuously but in patches; especially because then, in the newness of the lands, even if not all, yet more of them, it is credible, were level, where the bursting streams could more widely be scattered and spread. Wherefore, concerning the magnitude or multitude of this spring—which either had one bursting-forth from somewhere, or, on account of some unity in the hidden bosoms of the earth (whence all the waters upon the earth gush from all springs great and small)—
it was called one spring, ascending from the earth through all its distributions and watering all the face of the earth; or else—which is more credible—because it does not say 'one spring went up from the earth,' but says 'and a spring went up from the earth,' it put the singular for the plural number, so that we may thus understand many springs throughout the whole earth watering their own places or regions, just as one says 'soldier' and many are understood, just as 'locust' and 'frog' are spoken of in the plagues with which the Egyptians were struck, when the number of locusts and frogs was innumerable. Let us now labor no longer.
But let us again and again consider whether the opinion can hold good for us throughout all points, by which we were saying that God worked all creatures in one way in the first founding (from which works He rested on the seventh day), and in another way in that administration of them by which He works until now—that is, then all things together without any intervals of temporal delays, but now through the delays of time. By these delays we see the stars moved from rising to setting, the heaven changed from summer to winter, seeds sprout at fixed moments of days, grow large, become green, wither; animals too, at appointed bounds and courses of the times, both conceived and perfected and born, and running down through the ages to old age and death, and other temporal things of this kind.
For who works these things save God, even without any such motion of His own? For time does not befall Him. Between those works of God, then, from which He rested on the seventh day, and these which He works until now, Scripture, interposing a certain joint of its narrative, indicated that it had unfolded the former and now began to weave together the latter. The commendation of the former, now unfolded, was made thus: 'This is the book of the creation of heaven and earth, when the day was made; God made heaven and earth and every green thing of the field before it was upon the earth, and every herb of the field before it sprang up. For God had not rained upon the earth, and there was no man to till the earth.' But the weaving-together of the latter began thus:
'but a spring went up from the earth and watered all the face of the earth.' From this mention of this spring and thenceforward, the things which are narrated came to be through the delays of time, not all together. Since, therefore, the immutable reasons of all creatures in the Word of God are one thing, His works from which He rested on the seventh day another, and these which out of them He works until now yet another—of these three, this which I have put last is somehow known to us through the bodily senses and the habit of this life. But those two, removed from our senses and from the use of human thought, must first be believed on divine authority, and then, through these things which are known,
be known as best one can, according as each is more or less able, in the measure of his capacity, divinely aided so that he may be able. Concerning, then, those first divine, immutable, and eternal reasons—since the very Wisdom of God, through whom all things were made, knew them before they came to be, as Scripture testifies: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing'—who then would be so mad as to say that God did not make the things He knew? Moreover, if He knew them, where but with Himself, with whom was the Word through whom all things were made? For if He knew them outside Himself, who had taught Him?
For 'who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him? Since from Him and through Him and in Him are all things.' Although also the things which follow in the Gospel sufficiently uphold this opinion; for the Evangelist adds and says: 'That which was made, in Him is life, and the life was the light of men'—because, namely, rational minds, in which kind man was made to the image of God, do not have their true light save the very Word of God, through whom all things were made, of which they can be partakers when cleansed from all iniquity and error. Therefore it ought not to be pronounced thus: 'That which was made in Him, is life,' so that we subdistinguish:
'that which was made in Him,' and then infer: 'is life.' For what was not made in Him, when—many earthly creatures also being mentioned—it is said in the Psalm: 'In wisdom hast Thou made all things,' and the Apostle too says: 'For in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible'? It will therefore follow, if we distinguish thus, that both the earth itself and whatsoever things are in it are life. But since it is absurd to say that all things live, how much more absurd that they should even be life? Especially because it distinguishes of what kind of life it speaks, when it adds: 'and the life was the light of men.' Thus, then, it must be distinguished, so that, when we have said 'That which was made,' we then infer:
'in Him is life'—not in itself, that is, not in its own nature by which it was made, so that it is a founded thing and a creature, but 'in Him is life,' because all things which were made through Him He knew before they came to be; and through this they were in Him not as the creature which He made, but as life and the light of men, which is Wisdom itself and the very Word, the only-begotten Son of God. In that way, then, is 'that which was made' life in Him, in the way it was said: 'As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself.' Nor is it to be passed over that the more correct manuscripts have: 'That which was made, in Him was life,' so that it may be understood thus:
it was life, in the way that 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Therefore that which was made was already life in Him, and a life not of any sort whatever—for cattle too are said to live, which cannot enjoy participation in wisdom—but the life was the light of men. For rational minds, purged by His grace, can attain to that kind of vision, than which there is nothing higher nor more blessed. But even if we read and understand thus:
'That which was made, in Him is life,' this opinion remains: that what was made through Him is understood to be life in Him, in which life He saw all things when He made them, and as He saw, so He made them, not seeing outside Himself, but in Himself thus enumerating all that He made. Nor is His vision and the Father's another and another, but one, just as the substance is one. For in the book of Job also, that very Wisdom, through whom all things were made, is thus proclaimed: 'But wisdom, whence has it been found? Or what is the place of knowledge? Mortal man knows not the way thereof, nor shall it be found among men.' And a little after: 'We have heard,' it says, 'its glory. The Lord has commended its way, and He Himself has known its place.'
For He Himself beholds all that is under heaven, and knows all things that are in the earth which He made: the weighings of the winds, the measures of the water. When He made them, as He saw, He enumerated them. By these and testimonies of this kind it is proved that all these things, before they came to be, were in the knowledge of their Maker, and there indeed better, where they were truer, where they are eternal and immutable. Although it ought to suffice that anyone should know, or unshaken believe, that God made all these things, I do not think him to be so senseless as to suppose that God made what He did not know.
Moreover, if He knew them before He made them, then surely, before they came to be, they were with Him in that manner in which they eternally and immutably live and are life, but were made in that manner in which each creature is in its own kind. Therefore, although that eternal and immutable nature, which is God, having in itself that it may be—as was said to Moses:
'I am who I am'—far otherwise, namely, than are those things which were made, since that alone truly and primarily is which in the same manner always is, and not only is not changed but cannot be changed at all, being none of these things which He made, and yet primarily having all things, just as He Himself is—for indeed He would not make them unless He knew them before He made them, nor would He know them unless He saw them, nor would He see them unless He had them, nor would He have those things which were not yet made, save in the manner in which He Himself is not-made—although, I say, that substance is ineffable and cannot in any way be spoken to man through man save by borrowing certain words of places and times, since it is before all times and before all places, nevertheless it is nearer to us.
He who made, than are the many things which were made. For in Him we live and move and are; but most of these things are removed from our mind on account of the dissimilarity of their kind, since they are corporeal; nor is our mind itself fit, in those very reasons by which they were made, to see them with God, so that through this we might know how many and how great and of what sort they are, even if we do not see them through the bodily senses. For they are removed from the senses of our body, because they are far off, or, by other things interposed or set against them, are separated from our gaze and action.
From which it comes about that the labor to find those things is greater than to find Him by whom they were made, since it is with incomparable felicity more excellent to perceive Him with a pious mind, from however small a portion, than to comprehend all those things. Whence rightly are the searchers of this world blamed in the book of Wisdom: 'For if,' it says, 'they had power to avail so far as to be able to estimate the world, how did they not more easily find its Lord?' For the foundations of the earth are unknown to our eyes, and He who founded the earth draws near to our minds. Now, then, let us consider those things which God made all together, from which, completed on the sixth day, He rested on the seventh, intending afterward to consider His works in which He works until now.
For He Himself is before the ages; but we speak of a thing as being 'from the age' from the point at which the age began — as, for instance, the world itself — and 'in the age' as we speak of those things which are born within the world. When therefore Scripture had said, 'All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made,' a little later it says, 'He was in this world, and the world was made by Him.' Of this work of God it is written in another place: 'Thou who madest the world out of formless matter.' This world is for the most part designated by the name of heaven and earth, as we have already noted, which Scripture says God made when the day was made.
Concerning these words we have already, as far as seemed good, discussed how it accords with the condition of this world — both that it was completed in six days with all things that are in it, and that it was then made when the day was made — so that this too may agree, namely that He created all things together. Of this whole creation of God there is much that we do not know: whether the things that are in the heavens too high for our sense to reach, or those that lie perhaps in uninhabitable regions of the earth, or those hidden below, whether in the depth of the abyss or in the concealed recesses of the earth. These things, then, before they came to be, assuredly were not. How therefore were they known to God, which were not? And again, how could He make those things which were not known to Himself?
For He made nothing in ignorance. Therefore He made things known, He did not come to know things once made. Accordingly, before they came to be, they both were and were not: they were in God's knowledge, they were not in their own nature. And by this means that day was made in which they should become known in both ways, both in God and in themselves — in the former as it were by a morning or daytime knowledge, in the latter as it were by an evening knowledge. But of God Himself I do not dare to say that they became known to Him in any other way, when He had made them, than in that way by which He knew them so as to make them — with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of a moment's turning. Nor indeed does He need messengers for knowledge of lower things, as if through them He became more knowing; but in that simple and wondrous manner He knows all things stably and unchangeably.