The Opening of Genesis Part III

And the Spirit of God moved over the waters

(c) 2013 Bart A Mazzetti

sect

1

TEXTS

2 The earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters

2 ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος

2 Terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebraelig erant super faciem abyssi et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas

12 And the earth was void and empty [or ldquoinvisible and shapelessrdquo LXX] and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved over the waters

TOPICS

Ruach Elohim as meaning ldquoA Mighty Windrdquo

On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

The order of nature as revealing the providence of God

On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

sect

2

1 On The Spirit of God Ruach Elohim as meaning ldquoA Mighty Windrdquo

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew Text Myhla jwrw - and a mighty wind

The Hebrew word hwr can mean ldquobreath wind or spiritrdquo (BDB 924) Its most basic meaning is ldquoblowing air in motion windrdquo (NIDOTTE 31073) To the ancient Hebrews breath wind and spirit were the same (Gaster 1969 5) There is no article in the Hebrew which indicates ldquowindrdquo not ldquoThe Spiritrdquo as well as the following Hebrew participle tpjrm denoting motion It is interesting to note that the Hebrew and Akkadian word for ldquodayrdquo mwy and umum respectively can mean ldquowindrdquo (Hildegard and Lewy 1943 5) The word ltyhla can also be used as a superlative describing the wind therefore meaning ldquoa mighty windrdquo or ldquoraging stormrdquo Moscati and Freeman argue against taking it as an elative because of the context (1947 305-10 1996 9-13) The only other exact Hebrew phrase with vav mentioned in the Masorah is in 2 Chronicles 2420 where the Spirit of God comes upon Zechariah (Kelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 113) There are six other references listed Gen 4138 Ex 3133531 Num 242 Ezek 1124 and 2 Chr 151 Psalm 336 says ldquoBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made their starry host by the breath of his mouthrdquo (NIV) Here ldquowordrdquo and ldquobreathrdquo are used in parallel Job 2613 states ldquoBy his breath the skies became fairrdquo (NIV) Clearly in this passage the wind which is considered Godrsquos breath is blowing the clouds away causing fair skies

LXX Text pneuma qeou - a wind from God

The LXX has translated the Hebrew phrase as pneuma qeou with no article as the Hebrew which seems to indicate that ldquoa wind from Godrdquo was meant (Wevers 1993 2)2

Aramaic Texts ywy mdq nm ajwrw - and the wind from before Yahweh

Grossfeld in his notes states that ajwr means ldquowindrdquo not ldquospiritrdquo even though it has an article in the Targum Onqelos (1988 42)

In the Targum Neofiti I McNamara translates ldquoand a spirit of mercy from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1992 52)

In the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Maher translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before God was blowing over the surface of the waterrdquo (1992 16) This same phase ldquomerciful windrdquo occurs in Genesis 81 to dry the flood waters

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])2 Needless to say as the authorrsquos own remarks make clear inasmuch as the same word ldquocan mean lsquobreathrsquo lsquowindrsquo or lsquospiritrsquordquo the absence of an article here in no way supports his restrictive claim since the wind moving over the waters suggesting a breath of Godrsquos by that very fact may also designate His Spirit Cf Summa Theol Ia q 36 art 1 c where St Thomas explains the wordrsquos fittingness as a name for the Third Person of the Trinity looking to its ldquoproper significationrdquo ldquoFor the name spirit in things corporeal seems to signify impulse and motion for we call the breath and the wind by the term spirit Now it is a property of love to move and impel the will of the lover towards the object lovedrdquo (tr English Dominican Fathers) (em-phasis added) the Third Person being understood to proceed by way of love

3

In the Fragment-Targums Klein translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1980 3) The Targums seem to believe by their translation that ldquoa wind from the Lord was blowingrdquo not the ldquoSpirit of Godrdquo moving

Jewish Literature

Josephus in Jewish Antiquities writes pneumatoj drsquo authn anwqev epiqeonyoj meaning ldquoa wind (or breath) from above was moving over itrdquo Framxman notes ldquoThe alteration of the ruah `elohim to a breath from above (anothen)rsquo cannot help call to mind the similar effort employed by the Targumim to interpret this lsquobreathrsquo as something a bit apart and distinct from God himselfrdquo (1979 39)

Philo renders it ldquolife-breathrdquo and comments ldquoThe one he entitles the lsquobreath of Godrsquo because breath is most life-giving and of life God is the authorrdquo (On The Creation 30 LCL 23)

In Genesis Rabbah Rabban Gamaliel understands ruah as ldquowindrdquo referring to Amos 413 (IIX Neusner 1985 13) R Judah b R Simon understands it in light of Genesis 81 ldquoAnd God made a wind pass over the earthrdquo (Ibid 23)

The Babylonian Talmud in Hagigah 12a translates ldquoAnd the wind of God hovered over the face of the watersrdquo (Epstein 1935 63)

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble

Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15)

Ugaritic Literature

The cognate word for pjr in Ugaritic is rhp It occurs in Aqhat which says ldquoabove him eagles hovered a flock of hawks looked down [Among] the eagles Anat hoveredrdquo (KTU 118 IV31-2 Gibson 113 COS 350)

4

In the Baal-Yam Cycle it seems that Baal uses the winds to defeat the sea It says ldquoYoursquoll whirl in Barsquolu hand like a hawk in his fingers Scatter (him) O Mighty [BArsquolu]rdquo (COS 249 KTU 12)

Akkadian Literature

In the Disputation Between Bird and Fish it says

Then came Bird lion-faced and with an eaglersquos talons Winging towards its nest It stops in mid-flight

Like a hurricane whirling in the midst of heaven it circles in the sky Bird looking about for its nest spreads open wings and legs (COS 1997 583)

Here the bird soaring around is described as ldquoa hurricane whirlingrdquo It is not a gentle breeze

In the Legend of Adapa Adapa was mad at the South wind for capsizing his boat and said ldquoI will break thy wi[ng] Just as he had said (this) with his mouth The wing of the sou[th Wi]nd was broken For seven days The [south win]d blew not upon the landrdquo (ANET 101)

In Enuma Elish Marduk uses the winds to help him defeat the monster Tiamat It says ldquoHe brought forth Imhullu the Evil Wind the Whirlwind the Hurricane The Fourfold Wind the Sevenfold Wind the Cyclone the Matchless Wind Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth the seven of themrdquo (ANET 66)

Jewish Literature

Genesis Rabbah says ldquoThe spirit of God blew is not what is written but rather The spirit of God hovered like a bird which is flying about and flapping its wings and the wings barely touch [the nest]rdquo (IIIV4E Neusner 35)

[NB As the reader will observe the text continues with Tertullian and other Christian writers giving every indication of an omission in the original web page here (BAM)]

Tertullian lived from 145 to 220 AD Later in life he became a Montanist His writing Against Hermogenes is written against the view that matter is eternal God did not use pre-existent matter to create the world (Roberts and Donaldson 1981 Vol3 477-502) He also says that the word ldquoearthrdquo does not mean ldquomatterrdquo (Ibid 490-1)

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Ambrose uses the theory of atoms to explain the matter called ldquoearthrdquo in Genesis 11-2 Greek philosophy used similar terms to ldquoinvisiblerdquo and ldquounformedrdquo to describe matter (aneideos amorfos apoios Van Winden 208)

Augustine concludes ldquoHence all these expressions whether heaven and earth or the earth invisible and without order and the abyss with darkness or the water over which was borne the Spirit of God are names for unformed matterrdquo (Against the Manichees Book 112 1991 60)

5

Jerome in Hebrew Questions on Genesis states ldquoIn place of what is written in our codices as moved the Hebrew has merefeth which we can render as was brooding over or was keeping warm in the likeness of a bird giving life to its eggs with warmthrdquo (Hayward 1995 30) (emphasis added)

Bibliography

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 1969 Princeton Princeton University PressAugustine 1991 Saint Augustine on Genesis Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis An Unfinished Book Trans by Roland J Teske Washington DC Catholic University of America PressBasil St 1963 The Fathers of the Church Saint Basil Exegetic Homilies Trans by Sister Agnes Way Washington DC Catholic University of America PressCOS The Context of Scripture Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World 1997 Ed By William Hallo Vol1 Leiden BrillEpstein Isidore 1938 The Babylonian Talmud 8 Vols London SoncinoFranxman Thomas 1979 Genesis and the ldquoJewish Antiquitiesrdquo of Flavius Josephus Rome Biblical Institute Press Freeman 1996 [missing from the authorrsquos bibliography]Gaster Theodor 1969 Myth Legend and Custom in the Old TestamentGibson JCL 1978 Canaanite Myths and Legends 2nd Ed Edinburgh TampT ClarkGrossfeld Bernard Trans By 1988 The Targum Onqelos to Genesis Wilmington Michael GlazierHayward CTR 1995 Saint Jeromersquos Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford ClarendonJosephus 1930 Jewish Antiquities Trans By Thackeray Loeb Classical Library 242 Cambridge Harvard University PressKelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 The Masorah of the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaGrand Rapids EerdmansKlein Michael 1980 The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 Rome Bibical Institute PressKTU The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places 1995 2nd ed by Dietrich Loretz and Sanmartin Munster Ugaritic-VerlagLewy Hildegard and Julius 1943 ldquoThe Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendarrdquo HUCA 171-146Maher Michael Trans By 1992 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMcNamara Martin Trans By 1992 Targum Neofiti I Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMoscati Sabatino 1947 ldquoThe Wind in Biblical and Phoenician Cosmogonyrdquo JBL 66 305-310Neusner Jacob 1985 Genesis Rabbah Vol 1 Atlanta Scholars PressNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and ExegesisPhilo 1993 The Works of Philo Trans by CD Yonge Peabody HendricksonRoberts and Donaldson Eds 1981 The Ante-Nicene Fathers Grand Rapids EerdmansStadelmann Luis 1970 The Hebrew Conception of the World Rome Biblical Institute PressVan Winden JCM 1962 ldquoSt Ambrosersquos Interpretation of the Concept of Matterrdquo V Chr-Vigiliae Christianae 16205-15Wevers John 1980 ldquoHistories and Historians of the Ancient Near Eastrdquo Orientalia 49137-332

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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

6

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

TEXTS

2 The earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters

2 ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος

2 Terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebraelig erant super faciem abyssi et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas

12 And the earth was void and empty [or ldquoinvisible and shapelessrdquo LXX] and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved over the waters

TOPICS

Ruach Elohim as meaning ldquoA Mighty Windrdquo

On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

The order of nature as revealing the providence of God

On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

sect

2

1 On The Spirit of God Ruach Elohim as meaning ldquoA Mighty Windrdquo

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew Text Myhla jwrw - and a mighty wind

The Hebrew word hwr can mean ldquobreath wind or spiritrdquo (BDB 924) Its most basic meaning is ldquoblowing air in motion windrdquo (NIDOTTE 31073) To the ancient Hebrews breath wind and spirit were the same (Gaster 1969 5) There is no article in the Hebrew which indicates ldquowindrdquo not ldquoThe Spiritrdquo as well as the following Hebrew participle tpjrm denoting motion It is interesting to note that the Hebrew and Akkadian word for ldquodayrdquo mwy and umum respectively can mean ldquowindrdquo (Hildegard and Lewy 1943 5) The word ltyhla can also be used as a superlative describing the wind therefore meaning ldquoa mighty windrdquo or ldquoraging stormrdquo Moscati and Freeman argue against taking it as an elative because of the context (1947 305-10 1996 9-13) The only other exact Hebrew phrase with vav mentioned in the Masorah is in 2 Chronicles 2420 where the Spirit of God comes upon Zechariah (Kelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 113) There are six other references listed Gen 4138 Ex 3133531 Num 242 Ezek 1124 and 2 Chr 151 Psalm 336 says ldquoBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made their starry host by the breath of his mouthrdquo (NIV) Here ldquowordrdquo and ldquobreathrdquo are used in parallel Job 2613 states ldquoBy his breath the skies became fairrdquo (NIV) Clearly in this passage the wind which is considered Godrsquos breath is blowing the clouds away causing fair skies

LXX Text pneuma qeou - a wind from God

The LXX has translated the Hebrew phrase as pneuma qeou with no article as the Hebrew which seems to indicate that ldquoa wind from Godrdquo was meant (Wevers 1993 2)2

Aramaic Texts ywy mdq nm ajwrw - and the wind from before Yahweh

Grossfeld in his notes states that ajwr means ldquowindrdquo not ldquospiritrdquo even though it has an article in the Targum Onqelos (1988 42)

In the Targum Neofiti I McNamara translates ldquoand a spirit of mercy from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1992 52)

In the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Maher translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before God was blowing over the surface of the waterrdquo (1992 16) This same phase ldquomerciful windrdquo occurs in Genesis 81 to dry the flood waters

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])2 Needless to say as the authorrsquos own remarks make clear inasmuch as the same word ldquocan mean lsquobreathrsquo lsquowindrsquo or lsquospiritrsquordquo the absence of an article here in no way supports his restrictive claim since the wind moving over the waters suggesting a breath of Godrsquos by that very fact may also designate His Spirit Cf Summa Theol Ia q 36 art 1 c where St Thomas explains the wordrsquos fittingness as a name for the Third Person of the Trinity looking to its ldquoproper significationrdquo ldquoFor the name spirit in things corporeal seems to signify impulse and motion for we call the breath and the wind by the term spirit Now it is a property of love to move and impel the will of the lover towards the object lovedrdquo (tr English Dominican Fathers) (em-phasis added) the Third Person being understood to proceed by way of love

3

In the Fragment-Targums Klein translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1980 3) The Targums seem to believe by their translation that ldquoa wind from the Lord was blowingrdquo not the ldquoSpirit of Godrdquo moving

Jewish Literature

Josephus in Jewish Antiquities writes pneumatoj drsquo authn anwqev epiqeonyoj meaning ldquoa wind (or breath) from above was moving over itrdquo Framxman notes ldquoThe alteration of the ruah `elohim to a breath from above (anothen)rsquo cannot help call to mind the similar effort employed by the Targumim to interpret this lsquobreathrsquo as something a bit apart and distinct from God himselfrdquo (1979 39)

Philo renders it ldquolife-breathrdquo and comments ldquoThe one he entitles the lsquobreath of Godrsquo because breath is most life-giving and of life God is the authorrdquo (On The Creation 30 LCL 23)

In Genesis Rabbah Rabban Gamaliel understands ruah as ldquowindrdquo referring to Amos 413 (IIX Neusner 1985 13) R Judah b R Simon understands it in light of Genesis 81 ldquoAnd God made a wind pass over the earthrdquo (Ibid 23)

The Babylonian Talmud in Hagigah 12a translates ldquoAnd the wind of God hovered over the face of the watersrdquo (Epstein 1935 63)

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble

Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15)

Ugaritic Literature

The cognate word for pjr in Ugaritic is rhp It occurs in Aqhat which says ldquoabove him eagles hovered a flock of hawks looked down [Among] the eagles Anat hoveredrdquo (KTU 118 IV31-2 Gibson 113 COS 350)

4

In the Baal-Yam Cycle it seems that Baal uses the winds to defeat the sea It says ldquoYoursquoll whirl in Barsquolu hand like a hawk in his fingers Scatter (him) O Mighty [BArsquolu]rdquo (COS 249 KTU 12)

Akkadian Literature

In the Disputation Between Bird and Fish it says

Then came Bird lion-faced and with an eaglersquos talons Winging towards its nest It stops in mid-flight

Like a hurricane whirling in the midst of heaven it circles in the sky Bird looking about for its nest spreads open wings and legs (COS 1997 583)

Here the bird soaring around is described as ldquoa hurricane whirlingrdquo It is not a gentle breeze

In the Legend of Adapa Adapa was mad at the South wind for capsizing his boat and said ldquoI will break thy wi[ng] Just as he had said (this) with his mouth The wing of the sou[th Wi]nd was broken For seven days The [south win]d blew not upon the landrdquo (ANET 101)

In Enuma Elish Marduk uses the winds to help him defeat the monster Tiamat It says ldquoHe brought forth Imhullu the Evil Wind the Whirlwind the Hurricane The Fourfold Wind the Sevenfold Wind the Cyclone the Matchless Wind Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth the seven of themrdquo (ANET 66)

Jewish Literature

Genesis Rabbah says ldquoThe spirit of God blew is not what is written but rather The spirit of God hovered like a bird which is flying about and flapping its wings and the wings barely touch [the nest]rdquo (IIIV4E Neusner 35)

[NB As the reader will observe the text continues with Tertullian and other Christian writers giving every indication of an omission in the original web page here (BAM)]

Tertullian lived from 145 to 220 AD Later in life he became a Montanist His writing Against Hermogenes is written against the view that matter is eternal God did not use pre-existent matter to create the world (Roberts and Donaldson 1981 Vol3 477-502) He also says that the word ldquoearthrdquo does not mean ldquomatterrdquo (Ibid 490-1)

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Ambrose uses the theory of atoms to explain the matter called ldquoearthrdquo in Genesis 11-2 Greek philosophy used similar terms to ldquoinvisiblerdquo and ldquounformedrdquo to describe matter (aneideos amorfos apoios Van Winden 208)

Augustine concludes ldquoHence all these expressions whether heaven and earth or the earth invisible and without order and the abyss with darkness or the water over which was borne the Spirit of God are names for unformed matterrdquo (Against the Manichees Book 112 1991 60)

5

Jerome in Hebrew Questions on Genesis states ldquoIn place of what is written in our codices as moved the Hebrew has merefeth which we can render as was brooding over or was keeping warm in the likeness of a bird giving life to its eggs with warmthrdquo (Hayward 1995 30) (emphasis added)

Bibliography

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 1969 Princeton Princeton University PressAugustine 1991 Saint Augustine on Genesis Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis An Unfinished Book Trans by Roland J Teske Washington DC Catholic University of America PressBasil St 1963 The Fathers of the Church Saint Basil Exegetic Homilies Trans by Sister Agnes Way Washington DC Catholic University of America PressCOS The Context of Scripture Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World 1997 Ed By William Hallo Vol1 Leiden BrillEpstein Isidore 1938 The Babylonian Talmud 8 Vols London SoncinoFranxman Thomas 1979 Genesis and the ldquoJewish Antiquitiesrdquo of Flavius Josephus Rome Biblical Institute Press Freeman 1996 [missing from the authorrsquos bibliography]Gaster Theodor 1969 Myth Legend and Custom in the Old TestamentGibson JCL 1978 Canaanite Myths and Legends 2nd Ed Edinburgh TampT ClarkGrossfeld Bernard Trans By 1988 The Targum Onqelos to Genesis Wilmington Michael GlazierHayward CTR 1995 Saint Jeromersquos Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford ClarendonJosephus 1930 Jewish Antiquities Trans By Thackeray Loeb Classical Library 242 Cambridge Harvard University PressKelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 The Masorah of the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaGrand Rapids EerdmansKlein Michael 1980 The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 Rome Bibical Institute PressKTU The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places 1995 2nd ed by Dietrich Loretz and Sanmartin Munster Ugaritic-VerlagLewy Hildegard and Julius 1943 ldquoThe Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendarrdquo HUCA 171-146Maher Michael Trans By 1992 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMcNamara Martin Trans By 1992 Targum Neofiti I Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMoscati Sabatino 1947 ldquoThe Wind in Biblical and Phoenician Cosmogonyrdquo JBL 66 305-310Neusner Jacob 1985 Genesis Rabbah Vol 1 Atlanta Scholars PressNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and ExegesisPhilo 1993 The Works of Philo Trans by CD Yonge Peabody HendricksonRoberts and Donaldson Eds 1981 The Ante-Nicene Fathers Grand Rapids EerdmansStadelmann Luis 1970 The Hebrew Conception of the World Rome Biblical Institute PressVan Winden JCM 1962 ldquoSt Ambrosersquos Interpretation of the Concept of Matterrdquo V Chr-Vigiliae Christianae 16205-15Wevers John 1980 ldquoHistories and Historians of the Ancient Near Eastrdquo Orientalia 49137-332

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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

6

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

1 On The Spirit of God Ruach Elohim as meaning ldquoA Mighty Windrdquo

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew Text Myhla jwrw - and a mighty wind

The Hebrew word hwr can mean ldquobreath wind or spiritrdquo (BDB 924) Its most basic meaning is ldquoblowing air in motion windrdquo (NIDOTTE 31073) To the ancient Hebrews breath wind and spirit were the same (Gaster 1969 5) There is no article in the Hebrew which indicates ldquowindrdquo not ldquoThe Spiritrdquo as well as the following Hebrew participle tpjrm denoting motion It is interesting to note that the Hebrew and Akkadian word for ldquodayrdquo mwy and umum respectively can mean ldquowindrdquo (Hildegard and Lewy 1943 5) The word ltyhla can also be used as a superlative describing the wind therefore meaning ldquoa mighty windrdquo or ldquoraging stormrdquo Moscati and Freeman argue against taking it as an elative because of the context (1947 305-10 1996 9-13) The only other exact Hebrew phrase with vav mentioned in the Masorah is in 2 Chronicles 2420 where the Spirit of God comes upon Zechariah (Kelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 113) There are six other references listed Gen 4138 Ex 3133531 Num 242 Ezek 1124 and 2 Chr 151 Psalm 336 says ldquoBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made their starry host by the breath of his mouthrdquo (NIV) Here ldquowordrdquo and ldquobreathrdquo are used in parallel Job 2613 states ldquoBy his breath the skies became fairrdquo (NIV) Clearly in this passage the wind which is considered Godrsquos breath is blowing the clouds away causing fair skies

LXX Text pneuma qeou - a wind from God

The LXX has translated the Hebrew phrase as pneuma qeou with no article as the Hebrew which seems to indicate that ldquoa wind from Godrdquo was meant (Wevers 1993 2)2

Aramaic Texts ywy mdq nm ajwrw - and the wind from before Yahweh

Grossfeld in his notes states that ajwr means ldquowindrdquo not ldquospiritrdquo even though it has an article in the Targum Onqelos (1988 42)

In the Targum Neofiti I McNamara translates ldquoand a spirit of mercy from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1992 52)

In the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Maher translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before God was blowing over the surface of the waterrdquo (1992 16) This same phase ldquomerciful windrdquo occurs in Genesis 81 to dry the flood waters

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])2 Needless to say as the authorrsquos own remarks make clear inasmuch as the same word ldquocan mean lsquobreathrsquo lsquowindrsquo or lsquospiritrsquordquo the absence of an article here in no way supports his restrictive claim since the wind moving over the waters suggesting a breath of Godrsquos by that very fact may also designate His Spirit Cf Summa Theol Ia q 36 art 1 c where St Thomas explains the wordrsquos fittingness as a name for the Third Person of the Trinity looking to its ldquoproper significationrdquo ldquoFor the name spirit in things corporeal seems to signify impulse and motion for we call the breath and the wind by the term spirit Now it is a property of love to move and impel the will of the lover towards the object lovedrdquo (tr English Dominican Fathers) (em-phasis added) the Third Person being understood to proceed by way of love

3

In the Fragment-Targums Klein translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1980 3) The Targums seem to believe by their translation that ldquoa wind from the Lord was blowingrdquo not the ldquoSpirit of Godrdquo moving

Jewish Literature

Josephus in Jewish Antiquities writes pneumatoj drsquo authn anwqev epiqeonyoj meaning ldquoa wind (or breath) from above was moving over itrdquo Framxman notes ldquoThe alteration of the ruah `elohim to a breath from above (anothen)rsquo cannot help call to mind the similar effort employed by the Targumim to interpret this lsquobreathrsquo as something a bit apart and distinct from God himselfrdquo (1979 39)

Philo renders it ldquolife-breathrdquo and comments ldquoThe one he entitles the lsquobreath of Godrsquo because breath is most life-giving and of life God is the authorrdquo (On The Creation 30 LCL 23)

In Genesis Rabbah Rabban Gamaliel understands ruah as ldquowindrdquo referring to Amos 413 (IIX Neusner 1985 13) R Judah b R Simon understands it in light of Genesis 81 ldquoAnd God made a wind pass over the earthrdquo (Ibid 23)

The Babylonian Talmud in Hagigah 12a translates ldquoAnd the wind of God hovered over the face of the watersrdquo (Epstein 1935 63)

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble

Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15)

Ugaritic Literature

The cognate word for pjr in Ugaritic is rhp It occurs in Aqhat which says ldquoabove him eagles hovered a flock of hawks looked down [Among] the eagles Anat hoveredrdquo (KTU 118 IV31-2 Gibson 113 COS 350)

4

In the Baal-Yam Cycle it seems that Baal uses the winds to defeat the sea It says ldquoYoursquoll whirl in Barsquolu hand like a hawk in his fingers Scatter (him) O Mighty [BArsquolu]rdquo (COS 249 KTU 12)

Akkadian Literature

In the Disputation Between Bird and Fish it says

Then came Bird lion-faced and with an eaglersquos talons Winging towards its nest It stops in mid-flight

Like a hurricane whirling in the midst of heaven it circles in the sky Bird looking about for its nest spreads open wings and legs (COS 1997 583)

Here the bird soaring around is described as ldquoa hurricane whirlingrdquo It is not a gentle breeze

In the Legend of Adapa Adapa was mad at the South wind for capsizing his boat and said ldquoI will break thy wi[ng] Just as he had said (this) with his mouth The wing of the sou[th Wi]nd was broken For seven days The [south win]d blew not upon the landrdquo (ANET 101)

In Enuma Elish Marduk uses the winds to help him defeat the monster Tiamat It says ldquoHe brought forth Imhullu the Evil Wind the Whirlwind the Hurricane The Fourfold Wind the Sevenfold Wind the Cyclone the Matchless Wind Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth the seven of themrdquo (ANET 66)

Jewish Literature

Genesis Rabbah says ldquoThe spirit of God blew is not what is written but rather The spirit of God hovered like a bird which is flying about and flapping its wings and the wings barely touch [the nest]rdquo (IIIV4E Neusner 35)

[NB As the reader will observe the text continues with Tertullian and other Christian writers giving every indication of an omission in the original web page here (BAM)]

Tertullian lived from 145 to 220 AD Later in life he became a Montanist His writing Against Hermogenes is written against the view that matter is eternal God did not use pre-existent matter to create the world (Roberts and Donaldson 1981 Vol3 477-502) He also says that the word ldquoearthrdquo does not mean ldquomatterrdquo (Ibid 490-1)

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Ambrose uses the theory of atoms to explain the matter called ldquoearthrdquo in Genesis 11-2 Greek philosophy used similar terms to ldquoinvisiblerdquo and ldquounformedrdquo to describe matter (aneideos amorfos apoios Van Winden 208)

Augustine concludes ldquoHence all these expressions whether heaven and earth or the earth invisible and without order and the abyss with darkness or the water over which was borne the Spirit of God are names for unformed matterrdquo (Against the Manichees Book 112 1991 60)

5

Jerome in Hebrew Questions on Genesis states ldquoIn place of what is written in our codices as moved the Hebrew has merefeth which we can render as was brooding over or was keeping warm in the likeness of a bird giving life to its eggs with warmthrdquo (Hayward 1995 30) (emphasis added)

Bibliography

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 1969 Princeton Princeton University PressAugustine 1991 Saint Augustine on Genesis Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis An Unfinished Book Trans by Roland J Teske Washington DC Catholic University of America PressBasil St 1963 The Fathers of the Church Saint Basil Exegetic Homilies Trans by Sister Agnes Way Washington DC Catholic University of America PressCOS The Context of Scripture Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World 1997 Ed By William Hallo Vol1 Leiden BrillEpstein Isidore 1938 The Babylonian Talmud 8 Vols London SoncinoFranxman Thomas 1979 Genesis and the ldquoJewish Antiquitiesrdquo of Flavius Josephus Rome Biblical Institute Press Freeman 1996 [missing from the authorrsquos bibliography]Gaster Theodor 1969 Myth Legend and Custom in the Old TestamentGibson JCL 1978 Canaanite Myths and Legends 2nd Ed Edinburgh TampT ClarkGrossfeld Bernard Trans By 1988 The Targum Onqelos to Genesis Wilmington Michael GlazierHayward CTR 1995 Saint Jeromersquos Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford ClarendonJosephus 1930 Jewish Antiquities Trans By Thackeray Loeb Classical Library 242 Cambridge Harvard University PressKelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 The Masorah of the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaGrand Rapids EerdmansKlein Michael 1980 The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 Rome Bibical Institute PressKTU The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places 1995 2nd ed by Dietrich Loretz and Sanmartin Munster Ugaritic-VerlagLewy Hildegard and Julius 1943 ldquoThe Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendarrdquo HUCA 171-146Maher Michael Trans By 1992 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMcNamara Martin Trans By 1992 Targum Neofiti I Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMoscati Sabatino 1947 ldquoThe Wind in Biblical and Phoenician Cosmogonyrdquo JBL 66 305-310Neusner Jacob 1985 Genesis Rabbah Vol 1 Atlanta Scholars PressNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and ExegesisPhilo 1993 The Works of Philo Trans by CD Yonge Peabody HendricksonRoberts and Donaldson Eds 1981 The Ante-Nicene Fathers Grand Rapids EerdmansStadelmann Luis 1970 The Hebrew Conception of the World Rome Biblical Institute PressVan Winden JCM 1962 ldquoSt Ambrosersquos Interpretation of the Concept of Matterrdquo V Chr-Vigiliae Christianae 16205-15Wevers John 1980 ldquoHistories and Historians of the Ancient Near Eastrdquo Orientalia 49137-332

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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

6

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

In the Fragment-Targums Klein translates ldquoand a merciful wind from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the watersrdquo (1980 3) The Targums seem to believe by their translation that ldquoa wind from the Lord was blowingrdquo not the ldquoSpirit of Godrdquo moving

Jewish Literature

Josephus in Jewish Antiquities writes pneumatoj drsquo authn anwqev epiqeonyoj meaning ldquoa wind (or breath) from above was moving over itrdquo Framxman notes ldquoThe alteration of the ruah `elohim to a breath from above (anothen)rsquo cannot help call to mind the similar effort employed by the Targumim to interpret this lsquobreathrsquo as something a bit apart and distinct from God himselfrdquo (1979 39)

Philo renders it ldquolife-breathrdquo and comments ldquoThe one he entitles the lsquobreath of Godrsquo because breath is most life-giving and of life God is the authorrdquo (On The Creation 30 LCL 23)

In Genesis Rabbah Rabban Gamaliel understands ruah as ldquowindrdquo referring to Amos 413 (IIX Neusner 1985 13) R Judah b R Simon understands it in light of Genesis 81 ldquoAnd God made a wind pass over the earthrdquo (Ibid 23)

The Babylonian Talmud in Hagigah 12a translates ldquoAnd the wind of God hovered over the face of the watersrdquo (Epstein 1935 63)

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble

Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15)

Ugaritic Literature

The cognate word for pjr in Ugaritic is rhp It occurs in Aqhat which says ldquoabove him eagles hovered a flock of hawks looked down [Among] the eagles Anat hoveredrdquo (KTU 118 IV31-2 Gibson 113 COS 350)

4

In the Baal-Yam Cycle it seems that Baal uses the winds to defeat the sea It says ldquoYoursquoll whirl in Barsquolu hand like a hawk in his fingers Scatter (him) O Mighty [BArsquolu]rdquo (COS 249 KTU 12)

Akkadian Literature

In the Disputation Between Bird and Fish it says

Then came Bird lion-faced and with an eaglersquos talons Winging towards its nest It stops in mid-flight

Like a hurricane whirling in the midst of heaven it circles in the sky Bird looking about for its nest spreads open wings and legs (COS 1997 583)

Here the bird soaring around is described as ldquoa hurricane whirlingrdquo It is not a gentle breeze

In the Legend of Adapa Adapa was mad at the South wind for capsizing his boat and said ldquoI will break thy wi[ng] Just as he had said (this) with his mouth The wing of the sou[th Wi]nd was broken For seven days The [south win]d blew not upon the landrdquo (ANET 101)

In Enuma Elish Marduk uses the winds to help him defeat the monster Tiamat It says ldquoHe brought forth Imhullu the Evil Wind the Whirlwind the Hurricane The Fourfold Wind the Sevenfold Wind the Cyclone the Matchless Wind Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth the seven of themrdquo (ANET 66)

Jewish Literature

Genesis Rabbah says ldquoThe spirit of God blew is not what is written but rather The spirit of God hovered like a bird which is flying about and flapping its wings and the wings barely touch [the nest]rdquo (IIIV4E Neusner 35)

[NB As the reader will observe the text continues with Tertullian and other Christian writers giving every indication of an omission in the original web page here (BAM)]

Tertullian lived from 145 to 220 AD Later in life he became a Montanist His writing Against Hermogenes is written against the view that matter is eternal God did not use pre-existent matter to create the world (Roberts and Donaldson 1981 Vol3 477-502) He also says that the word ldquoearthrdquo does not mean ldquomatterrdquo (Ibid 490-1)

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Ambrose uses the theory of atoms to explain the matter called ldquoearthrdquo in Genesis 11-2 Greek philosophy used similar terms to ldquoinvisiblerdquo and ldquounformedrdquo to describe matter (aneideos amorfos apoios Van Winden 208)

Augustine concludes ldquoHence all these expressions whether heaven and earth or the earth invisible and without order and the abyss with darkness or the water over which was borne the Spirit of God are names for unformed matterrdquo (Against the Manichees Book 112 1991 60)

5

Jerome in Hebrew Questions on Genesis states ldquoIn place of what is written in our codices as moved the Hebrew has merefeth which we can render as was brooding over or was keeping warm in the likeness of a bird giving life to its eggs with warmthrdquo (Hayward 1995 30) (emphasis added)

Bibliography

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 1969 Princeton Princeton University PressAugustine 1991 Saint Augustine on Genesis Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis An Unfinished Book Trans by Roland J Teske Washington DC Catholic University of America PressBasil St 1963 The Fathers of the Church Saint Basil Exegetic Homilies Trans by Sister Agnes Way Washington DC Catholic University of America PressCOS The Context of Scripture Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World 1997 Ed By William Hallo Vol1 Leiden BrillEpstein Isidore 1938 The Babylonian Talmud 8 Vols London SoncinoFranxman Thomas 1979 Genesis and the ldquoJewish Antiquitiesrdquo of Flavius Josephus Rome Biblical Institute Press Freeman 1996 [missing from the authorrsquos bibliography]Gaster Theodor 1969 Myth Legend and Custom in the Old TestamentGibson JCL 1978 Canaanite Myths and Legends 2nd Ed Edinburgh TampT ClarkGrossfeld Bernard Trans By 1988 The Targum Onqelos to Genesis Wilmington Michael GlazierHayward CTR 1995 Saint Jeromersquos Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford ClarendonJosephus 1930 Jewish Antiquities Trans By Thackeray Loeb Classical Library 242 Cambridge Harvard University PressKelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 The Masorah of the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaGrand Rapids EerdmansKlein Michael 1980 The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 Rome Bibical Institute PressKTU The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places 1995 2nd ed by Dietrich Loretz and Sanmartin Munster Ugaritic-VerlagLewy Hildegard and Julius 1943 ldquoThe Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendarrdquo HUCA 171-146Maher Michael Trans By 1992 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMcNamara Martin Trans By 1992 Targum Neofiti I Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMoscati Sabatino 1947 ldquoThe Wind in Biblical and Phoenician Cosmogonyrdquo JBL 66 305-310Neusner Jacob 1985 Genesis Rabbah Vol 1 Atlanta Scholars PressNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and ExegesisPhilo 1993 The Works of Philo Trans by CD Yonge Peabody HendricksonRoberts and Donaldson Eds 1981 The Ante-Nicene Fathers Grand Rapids EerdmansStadelmann Luis 1970 The Hebrew Conception of the World Rome Biblical Institute PressVan Winden JCM 1962 ldquoSt Ambrosersquos Interpretation of the Concept of Matterrdquo V Chr-Vigiliae Christianae 16205-15Wevers John 1980 ldquoHistories and Historians of the Ancient Near Eastrdquo Orientalia 49137-332

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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

6

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

In the Baal-Yam Cycle it seems that Baal uses the winds to defeat the sea It says ldquoYoursquoll whirl in Barsquolu hand like a hawk in his fingers Scatter (him) O Mighty [BArsquolu]rdquo (COS 249 KTU 12)

Akkadian Literature

In the Disputation Between Bird and Fish it says

Then came Bird lion-faced and with an eaglersquos talons Winging towards its nest It stops in mid-flight

Like a hurricane whirling in the midst of heaven it circles in the sky Bird looking about for its nest spreads open wings and legs (COS 1997 583)

Here the bird soaring around is described as ldquoa hurricane whirlingrdquo It is not a gentle breeze

In the Legend of Adapa Adapa was mad at the South wind for capsizing his boat and said ldquoI will break thy wi[ng] Just as he had said (this) with his mouth The wing of the sou[th Wi]nd was broken For seven days The [south win]d blew not upon the landrdquo (ANET 101)

In Enuma Elish Marduk uses the winds to help him defeat the monster Tiamat It says ldquoHe brought forth Imhullu the Evil Wind the Whirlwind the Hurricane The Fourfold Wind the Sevenfold Wind the Cyclone the Matchless Wind Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth the seven of themrdquo (ANET 66)

Jewish Literature

Genesis Rabbah says ldquoThe spirit of God blew is not what is written but rather The spirit of God hovered like a bird which is flying about and flapping its wings and the wings barely touch [the nest]rdquo (IIIV4E Neusner 35)

[NB As the reader will observe the text continues with Tertullian and other Christian writers giving every indication of an omission in the original web page here (BAM)]

Tertullian lived from 145 to 220 AD Later in life he became a Montanist His writing Against Hermogenes is written against the view that matter is eternal God did not use pre-existent matter to create the world (Roberts and Donaldson 1981 Vol3 477-502) He also says that the word ldquoearthrdquo does not mean ldquomatterrdquo (Ibid 490-1)

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Ambrose uses the theory of atoms to explain the matter called ldquoearthrdquo in Genesis 11-2 Greek philosophy used similar terms to ldquoinvisiblerdquo and ldquounformedrdquo to describe matter (aneideos amorfos apoios Van Winden 208)

Augustine concludes ldquoHence all these expressions whether heaven and earth or the earth invisible and without order and the abyss with darkness or the water over which was borne the Spirit of God are names for unformed matterrdquo (Against the Manichees Book 112 1991 60)

5

Jerome in Hebrew Questions on Genesis states ldquoIn place of what is written in our codices as moved the Hebrew has merefeth which we can render as was brooding over or was keeping warm in the likeness of a bird giving life to its eggs with warmthrdquo (Hayward 1995 30) (emphasis added)

Bibliography

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 1969 Princeton Princeton University PressAugustine 1991 Saint Augustine on Genesis Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis An Unfinished Book Trans by Roland J Teske Washington DC Catholic University of America PressBasil St 1963 The Fathers of the Church Saint Basil Exegetic Homilies Trans by Sister Agnes Way Washington DC Catholic University of America PressCOS The Context of Scripture Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World 1997 Ed By William Hallo Vol1 Leiden BrillEpstein Isidore 1938 The Babylonian Talmud 8 Vols London SoncinoFranxman Thomas 1979 Genesis and the ldquoJewish Antiquitiesrdquo of Flavius Josephus Rome Biblical Institute Press Freeman 1996 [missing from the authorrsquos bibliography]Gaster Theodor 1969 Myth Legend and Custom in the Old TestamentGibson JCL 1978 Canaanite Myths and Legends 2nd Ed Edinburgh TampT ClarkGrossfeld Bernard Trans By 1988 The Targum Onqelos to Genesis Wilmington Michael GlazierHayward CTR 1995 Saint Jeromersquos Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford ClarendonJosephus 1930 Jewish Antiquities Trans By Thackeray Loeb Classical Library 242 Cambridge Harvard University PressKelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 The Masorah of the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaGrand Rapids EerdmansKlein Michael 1980 The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 Rome Bibical Institute PressKTU The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places 1995 2nd ed by Dietrich Loretz and Sanmartin Munster Ugaritic-VerlagLewy Hildegard and Julius 1943 ldquoThe Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendarrdquo HUCA 171-146Maher Michael Trans By 1992 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMcNamara Martin Trans By 1992 Targum Neofiti I Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMoscati Sabatino 1947 ldquoThe Wind in Biblical and Phoenician Cosmogonyrdquo JBL 66 305-310Neusner Jacob 1985 Genesis Rabbah Vol 1 Atlanta Scholars PressNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and ExegesisPhilo 1993 The Works of Philo Trans by CD Yonge Peabody HendricksonRoberts and Donaldson Eds 1981 The Ante-Nicene Fathers Grand Rapids EerdmansStadelmann Luis 1970 The Hebrew Conception of the World Rome Biblical Institute PressVan Winden JCM 1962 ldquoSt Ambrosersquos Interpretation of the Concept of Matterrdquo V Chr-Vigiliae Christianae 16205-15Wevers John 1980 ldquoHistories and Historians of the Ancient Near Eastrdquo Orientalia 49137-332

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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

6

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

Jerome in Hebrew Questions on Genesis states ldquoIn place of what is written in our codices as moved the Hebrew has merefeth which we can render as was brooding over or was keeping warm in the likeness of a bird giving life to its eggs with warmthrdquo (Hayward 1995 30) (emphasis added)

Bibliography

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 1969 Princeton Princeton University PressAugustine 1991 Saint Augustine on Genesis Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis An Unfinished Book Trans by Roland J Teske Washington DC Catholic University of America PressBasil St 1963 The Fathers of the Church Saint Basil Exegetic Homilies Trans by Sister Agnes Way Washington DC Catholic University of America PressCOS The Context of Scripture Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World 1997 Ed By William Hallo Vol1 Leiden BrillEpstein Isidore 1938 The Babylonian Talmud 8 Vols London SoncinoFranxman Thomas 1979 Genesis and the ldquoJewish Antiquitiesrdquo of Flavius Josephus Rome Biblical Institute Press Freeman 1996 [missing from the authorrsquos bibliography]Gaster Theodor 1969 Myth Legend and Custom in the Old TestamentGibson JCL 1978 Canaanite Myths and Legends 2nd Ed Edinburgh TampT ClarkGrossfeld Bernard Trans By 1988 The Targum Onqelos to Genesis Wilmington Michael GlazierHayward CTR 1995 Saint Jeromersquos Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford ClarendonJosephus 1930 Jewish Antiquities Trans By Thackeray Loeb Classical Library 242 Cambridge Harvard University PressKelley Mynatt and Crawford 1998 The Masorah of the Biblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaGrand Rapids EerdmansKlein Michael 1980 The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch Analecta Biblica 76 Rome Bibical Institute PressKTU The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places 1995 2nd ed by Dietrich Loretz and Sanmartin Munster Ugaritic-VerlagLewy Hildegard and Julius 1943 ldquoThe Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendarrdquo HUCA 171-146Maher Michael Trans By 1992 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMcNamara Martin Trans By 1992 Targum Neofiti I Genesis Collegeville Liturgical PressMoscati Sabatino 1947 ldquoThe Wind in Biblical and Phoenician Cosmogonyrdquo JBL 66 305-310Neusner Jacob 1985 Genesis Rabbah Vol 1 Atlanta Scholars PressNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and ExegesisPhilo 1993 The Works of Philo Trans by CD Yonge Peabody HendricksonRoberts and Donaldson Eds 1981 The Ante-Nicene Fathers Grand Rapids EerdmansStadelmann Luis 1970 The Hebrew Conception of the World Rome Biblical Institute PressVan Winden JCM 1962 ldquoSt Ambrosersquos Interpretation of the Concept of Matterrdquo V Chr-Vigiliae Christianae 16205-15Wevers John 1980 ldquoHistories and Historians of the Ancient Near Eastrdquo Orientalia 49137-332

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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

6

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

NB Before proceeding it will be helpful here to consider a naturalistrsquos account of winds

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 2 nn 178-184

Lecture 7On the generation of winds

178 After determining about the sea whose saltness is caused from an admixture of the dry earthy exhalation the Philosopher subsequently determines about the winds which are caused by the same dry exhalation And it is divided into two sections

In the first he determines about the winds themselves at 179 In the second about certain phenomena caused from winds (c 7)

The first is divided into two parts

In the first he determines about winds in general In the second about the species of winds (c 6)

The first is divided into three parts

In the first he determines about the generation of winds at 179 In the second about their local motion (L 8) In the third about their increase and abatement (L 9)

Regarding the first he does three things

First he lays down the principles of the generation of winds at 179 Secondly he describes the manner of their generation at 181 Thirdly he manifests what has been said at 182

179 Regarding the first he does two things first he assigns the material principle of winds [185] and says that since ldquospiritsrdquo ie winds are to be discussed it is necessary to recall this principle already enunciated namely that there are two kinds of exhale-ation one indeed is the moist which is called ldquovaporrdquo the other is the dry which having no common name is called ldquosmokerdquo from one of its forms for smoke is strictly speaking the dry exhalation of burning wood Now these two exhalations are not so independent of each other that the moist is without the dry and the dry without the moistmdashrather they are denominated one or the other by that which is predominant in a given case

7

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

180 Secondly [186] he mentions the efficient principle which is the motion of the sun And he says that when the sun in its course approaches a given region of the earth its warmth elevates the moist as the sun recedes this raised vapor is condensed into water on account of the cold This is why there is more rain in winter than in summer and more at night than during the day although night-rains go unobserved because of sleep The rain water is divided up in the earth and drunk in by it In the earth much heat exists caused by the action of the sun and other heavenly bodies And the sun overhead heat-ing the earth not only draws aloft the moisture resting on the surface of the earthmdashfor example the water of the sea rivers and pondsmdashbut also dries out the earth itself and draws up the moisture drunk by the earth Consequently the exhalation it produces from the moisture resting on the earth is called ldquovaporrdquo but the exhalation that results from its drying out the earth is called ldquosmokerdquo just as in a parallel case the exhalation from heated wood is called ldquosmokerdquo

181 Then [187] he determines the generation of winds and says that since exhalations are of two kinds as has been said one vaporous and one smoky it is necessary that from the sunrsquos motion both should come about The one with more moisture is the source of rain water as said above (which he says because he had previously stated that some dry exhalation is mixed with it) but the dry exhalation is the source of winds

182 Then [188] he manifests what has been said about the generation of winds

About this he does three things

First he manifests it with an argument Secondly from what has been said he excludes false opinions about winds at 183 Thirdly he manifests this with signs at 185

He says therefore first [188] that since exhalations are of two kinds on account of the two sources from which they are derived namely earth and water it is possible even necessary that the sun and the heat which environs the earth can cause the resolution of both exhale-ations

183 Then [189] he dismisses false theories about the winds First the opinion of those who said that the natures of wind and of rain are the same This he excludes by the fact that the effects of diverse things are themselves diverse hence since the exhalations differ on the basis of dry and moist it is necessary that the nature of wind and of rain water be not the same as some supposed who said that it is the same air which when moved is wind and when condensed becomes water

But as stated in On Generation air has something of vapor and of smoke Its vapor is cold and moist and well-definable by its density and this belongs to air in so far as it is moist Thus also vapor which is borne up from water is cold by its very nature as also is un-warmed water just as warmed water remains cold according to nature so also vapor But smoke is hot and dry because of the earth it is dry because of fire it is hot Hence it is manifestly plain that the upper air which is hot and moist bears a likeness to both

184 Secondly [190] he dismisses the false opinion as to its tenet that wind is nothing more than air in motion And he says that it is unacceptable for anyone to suppose that the air which surrounds each of us is when in motion wind or that every movement occurring in air is wind just as also we do not suppose any water at all that flows even if it be a large amount to be a river but only when it flows from some determinate source which is a spring gushing from the earth

8

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

The same applies to winds it is not a wind if air even in large amounts is moved in some chance way but only when it has as its source as though its spring a raised dry exhalation Consequently it is not true that air in motion is wind both because sometimes a small amount of air is in motion and because it does not have a starting-point (emphasis added)

NB Whereas natural winds result from the hydrological cycle in the way in which Aris-totle explains the spirit of God precedes such a cause in nature that is to say as we shall argue below the aforementioned cycle is the effect of the spirit of God understood as wind

2 On the right interpretation of the words ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo

The Rabbinic interpretation witnessed above to the contrary notwithstanding the fact that the word ruach can mean lsquobreathrsquo or lsquospiritrsquo justifies understanding the verse to convey the notion of a wind blowing in accordance with which it may be translated ldquoAnd the wind (= breath = spirit) of God was blowing over the face of the watersrdquo That is to say the surface of the waters was being stirred by the breath of God blowing over it like a wind where by breath is understood the Spirit of God (Cf also In Job cap 9 lect 2 n 8 where St Thomas explains that the waves of the sea are caused by the winds) In sum I take the spirit of God to be the breath of God which is represented as being a wind from God Hence among the simple bodies enumerated in verse 2 in addition to lsquothe earthrsquo and lsquothe watersrsquo (which are also lsquothe deeprsquo) there is also lsquothe wind (of God)rsquo

3 Supplement John Gill

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35 and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

9

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z

and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

10

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

11

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

4 On ldquothe Spirit of Godrdquo in relation to the life that was in the word a spiritual meaning of that lsquolifersquo

On ruach elohim ldquothe spirit of Godrdquo understood as a lsquowindrsquo blowing over the surface of the waters Cf John 38

The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit (KJV)

As the Evangelist teaches the lsquowindrsquo of God blows where it willsmdashthat is where it wishes For an explanation of this verse cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 3 lect 2 nn 452-456 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

12

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

452 In another way spiritus is taken for the Holy Spirit And according to this he mentions four things about the Holy Spirit

First his power saying The Spirit blows where it wills because it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing hearts ldquoOne and the same Spirit does all these things distributing to each as he willsrdquo (1 Cor 1211) This refutes the error of Macedonius who thought that the Holy Spirit was the minister of the Father and the Son But then he would not be breathing where he willed but where he was commanded

453 Secondly he mentions the evidence for the Holy Spirit when he says and you hear its voice ldquoToday if you hear his voice do not harden your heartsrdquo (Ps 948)

Chrysostom objects to this and says that this cannot pertain to the Holy Spirit For the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus who was still an unbeliever and thus not fit to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit We may answer to this with Augustine that there is a twofold voice of the Holy Spirit One is that by which he speaks inwardly in manrsquos heart and only believers and the saints hear this voice about which the Psalm (849) says ldquoI will hear what the Lord God says within merdquo The other voice is that by which the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures or through those who preach according to Matthew (1020) ldquoFor it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit who is speaking through yourdquo And this voice is heard by unbelievers and sinners

454 Thirdly he refers to the origin of the Holy Spirit which is hidden thus he says but you do not know where it comes from although you may hear its voice And this is because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son ldquoWhen the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherrdquo (below 1526) But the Father and the Son ldquodwell in inaccessible light whom no man has seen or is able to seerdquo (1 Tim 616)

455 Fourthly he gives the destination of the Holy Spirit which is also hidden and so he says you do not know where it goes because the Spirit leads one to a hidden end that is eternal happiness Thus it says in Ephesians (114) that the Holy Spirit is ldquothe pledge of our inheritancerdquo And again ldquoThe eye has not seen nor has the ear heard nor has the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love himrdquo (1 Cor 29) Or you do not know where it comes from ie how the Spirit enters into a person or where it goes ie to what perfection he may lead him ldquoIf he comes toward me I will not see himrdquo (Jb 911)

456 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit ie they are like the Holy Spirit And no wonder for as he had said before ldquoWhat is born of Spirit is itself spiritrdquo because the qualities of the Holy Spirit are present in the spiritual man just as the qualities of fire are present in burning coal Therefore the above four qualities of the Holy Spirit are found in one who has been born of the Holy Spirit First of all he has freedom ldquoWhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedomrdquo (2 Cor 317) for the Holy Spirit leads us to what is right ldquoYour good Spirit will lead me to the right pathrdquo (Ps 14210) and he frees us from the slavery of sin and of the law ldquoThe law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me freerdquo (Rom 82) Secondly we get an indication of him through the sound of his words and when we hear them we know his spirituality for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Thirdly he has an origin and an end that are hidden because no one can judge one who is spiritual ldquoThe spiritual man judges all things and he himself is judged by no onerdquo (1 Cor 215) Or we do not know where such a person comes from ie the source of his spiritual birth which is baptismal grace or where he goes ie of what he is made worthy that is of eternal life which remains concealed from us

13

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

5 On the first of the four things John mentions about the Holy Spirit

On the verse in question St Thomas comments ldquoThe Spirit blows where it wills be-cause it is by the free use of his power that he breathes where he wills and when he wills by instructing heartsrdquo (n 452) But if it belongs to the Spirit to be instructing then He must be a kind of light

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 67 art 1 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Whether the word ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in speaking of spiritual things

Objection 1 It would seem that ldquolightrdquo is used in its proper sense in spiritual things For Augustine says (Gen ad lit iv 28) that ldquoin spiritual things light is better and surer and that Christ is not called Light in the same sense as He is called the Stone the former is to be taken literally and the latter metaphoricallyrdquo

Objection 2 Further Dionysius (Div Nom iv) includes Light among the intellectual names of God But such names are used in their proper sense in spiritual things Therefore light is used in its proper sense in spiritual matters

Objection 3 Further the Apostle says (Eph 513) ldquoAll that is made manifest is lightrdquo But to be made manifest belongs more properly to spiritual things than to corporeal Therefore also does light On the contrary Ambrose says (De Fide ii) that ldquoSplendorrdquo is among those things which are said of God metaphorically

I answer that Any word may be used in two waysmdashthat is to say either in its original application or in its more extended meaning This is clearly shown in the word ldquosightrdquo originally applied to the act of the sense and then as sight is the noblest and most trustworthy of the senses extended in common speech to all knowledge obtained through the other senses Thus we say ldquoSeeing how it tastesrdquo or ldquosmellsrdquo or ldquoburnsrdquo ldquoFurther sight is applied to knowledge obtained through the intellect as in those words ldquoBlessed are the clean of heart for they shall see Godrdquo (Mt 58) And thus it is with the word light In its primary meaning it signifies that which makes manifest to the sense of sight afterwards it was extended to that which makes manifest to cognition of any kind If then the word is taken in its strict and primary meaning it is to be understood metaphorically when applied to spiritual things as Ambrose says (De Fide ii) But if taken in its common and extended use as applied to manifestation of every kind it may properly be applied to spiritual things (emphasis added)

The answer to the objections will sufficiently appear from what has been said (emphasis added)

On the light by which we ldquoseerdquo in relation to the beatific vision cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol II-IIae q 175 art 3 ad 2 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

The Divine essence cannot be seen by a created intellect save through the light of glory of which it is written (Ps 3510) lsquoIn Thy light we shall see lightrsquo But this light can be shared in two ways First by way of an abiding form and thus it beatifies the saints in heaven Secondly by way of a transitory passion as stated above (Question [171] Article [2]) of the light of prophecy and in this way that light was in Paul when he was in rapture Hence this

14

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

vision did not beatify him simply so as to overflow into his body but only in a restricted sense Consequently this rapture pertains somewhat to prophecy

But the light of glory presupposes the light of the agent intellect To see how the fore-going doctrines apply to the Holy Spirit cf John 11-5

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 He was in the beginning with God 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being 4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men 5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

Now to say of the Word that ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo points to Holy Spirit who is lsquolifersquo par excellence But since as we have seen omne quod est mani-festativum lumen est ldquoeverything that makes manifest is lightrdquo (cf Eph 513) we can understand how that lsquolifersquo could be ldquothe light of menrdquo1 In sum inasmuch as his intellective power which is a kind of light comes to man through the soul but that soul was breathed into the face of the first man by the ldquobreathrdquo of God2 but that lsquobreathrsquo may be understood of the Holy Spirit who is appropriately named lsquolifersquo the light by means of which men know may be fittingly assigned to Godrsquos Spirit who may therefore be understood as in-structing hearts in accordance with it

6 St Thomas on the interpretation of the words ldquolet there be lightrdquo

Also relevant here is St Thomas on the fourfold sense of Sacred Scripture cf Super ad Galatas cp 4 lect 7 (tr BAM)

He says therefore These things which are written about the two sons etc are said through an allegory that is through another understanding For allegory is a trope or manner of speaking by which one thing is said and another is understood Whence allegory is said from allos which is ldquootherrdquo and goge ldquoa leadingrdquo as if to say ldquoleading to another under-standingrdquo But it must be noted that allegory is sometimes taken for a mystical understanding of any sort sometimes for only one of the four which are the historical the mystical and the anagogical which are the four senses of Sacred Scripture and yet they differ with respect to signification For there is a twofold signification One is through sounds of voice another is through the things signified by the sounds of voice

And this is particularly the case in Sacred Scripture and not in the others forasmuch as God is its author in whose power it is not only to accommodate vocal sounds for the purpose of designating [something] (which even man is able to do) but also the things themselves And so in the other sciences handed on by man which cannot be accommodated for signifying except by words alone they signify solely by sounds of voice But this is proper in this science that the very things signified by vocal sounds signify something else through them and so this science can have many senses

For that signification by which vocal sounds signify something pertains to the literal or historical sense but that signification by which the things signified by the vocal sounds in turn signify other things pertains to the mystical sense

1 Cf St Thomasrsquos commentary on Jn 14-5 excerpted below2 Cf Gen 27 ldquoAnd the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soulrdquo (Douay-Rheims)

15

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

But something can be signified by the literal sense in two ways namely according to proper speech as when I say ldquothe man smilesrdquo or according to a likeness or metaphor as when I say ldquothe meadow smilesrdquo And we use both ways in Sacred Scripture as when we say according to the first way that ldquoJesus ascendsrdquo and when we say according to the second that ldquoHe sits at the right hand of the Fatherrdquo And so under the literal sense is included the parabolic or metaphoric

But the mystical or spiritual sense is divided into three For in the first place as the Apostle says the Old Law is a figure of the New Law And so insofar as those things which belong to the Old Law signify the things of the New there is the allegorical sense Again according to Dionysius in the book About the Celestial Hierarchy the New Law is the figure of future glory And so insofar as those things which are in the New Law and in Christ signify the things in the fatherland there is the anagogic sense Again in the New Law those things which are done in the Head are examples of the things we ought to do because whatever things are written are written for our doctrine And so insofar as those things in the New Law done in Christ and in those things which signify Christ are signs of the things we ought to do there is the moral sense And all of these are clear in an example

For when I make this statement ldquoLet there be lightrdquo according to the letter about bodily light it pertains to the literal sense

If ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is understood to mean that Christ is born in the Church it pertains to the allegorical sense

But if ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are led into glory it pertains to the anagogic sense

If however ldquoLet there be lightrdquo is said so that [one understands that] through Christ we are enlightened in understanding and inflamed in affection it pertains to the moral sense

Now inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is ldquoThe Lord the giver of life but it is said of the Word ldquoin Him was life and the life was the light of menrdquo we understand that ldquowe are enlight-ened in understanding and inflamed in affectionrdquo through the Spirit of God proceeding from His Word who makes ldquofree use of his powerby instructing heartsrdquo (Commentary on the Gospel of John n 452)

7 Supplement On the life which was in the word its literal meaning

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Gospel of John Part 1 lect 3 nn 95-107 (tr James A Weisheipl OP)

LECTURE 3

4b And that life was the light of men5 And the light shines in the darknessand the darkness did not overcome it

95 Above the Evangelist described the power of the Word insofar as he brought all things into existence here he describes his power as it is related to men saying that this Word is a light to men First he introduces a certain light to us (v 4b) secondly the lightrsquos irradiation (v 5a) thirdly participation in the light (v 5b) This whole section may be explained in two

16

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

ways first according to the influx of natural knowledge secondly according to participation in grace

As to the first point he says And that life was the light of men

96 Here we should note first that according to Augustine and many others light is more properly said of spiritual things than of sensible things Ambrose however thinks that brightness is said metaphorically of God But this is not a great issue for in whatever way the name ldquolightrdquo is used it implies a manifestation whether that manifesting concerns intelligible or sensible things If we compare sensible and intelligible manifestation then according to the nature of things light is found first in spiritual things But for us who give names to things on the basis of their properties as known to us light is discovered first in sensible things because we first used this name to signify sensible light before intelligible light although as to power light belongs to spiritual things in a prior and truer way than to sensible things

97 To clarify the statement And that life was the light of men we should remark that there are many grades of life For some things live but do so without light because they have no knowledge for example plants Hence their life is not light Other things both live and know but their knowledge since it is on the sense level is concerned only with individual and material things as is the case with the brutes So they have both life and a certain light But they do not have the light of men who live and know not only truths but also the very nature of truth itself Such are rational creatures to whom not only this or that are made manifest but truth itself which can be manifested and is manifestive to all

And so the Evangelist speaking of the Word not only says that he is life but also light lest anyone suppose he means life without knowledge And he says that he is the light of men lest anyone suppose he meant only sensible knowledge such as exists in the brutes

98 But since he is also the light of angels why did he say of men Two answers have been given to this Chrysostom says that the Evangelist intended in this Gospel to give us a knowledge of the Word precisely as directed to the salvation of men and therefore refers in keeping with his aim more to men than to angels Origen however says that participation in this light pertains to men insofar as they have a rational nature accordingly when the Evangelist says the light of men he wants us to understand every rational nature

99 We also see from this the perfection and dignity of this life because it is intellectual or rational For whereas all things that in some way move themselves are called living only those that perfectly move themselves are said to have perfect life and among lower creatures only man moves himself properly speaking and perfectly For although other things are moved by themselves by some inner principle that inner principle is nevertheless not open to opposite alternatives hence they are not moved freely but from necessity As a result those things that are moved by such a principle are more truly made to act than act themselves But man since he is master of his act moves himself freely to all that he wills Consequently man has perfect life as does every intellectual nature And so the life of the Word which is the light of men is perfect life

100 We find a fitting order in the above For in the natural order of things existence is first and the Evangelist implies this in his first statement In the beginning was the Word Secondly comes life and this is mentioned next In him was life Thirdly comes understanding and that is mentioned next And that life was the light of men And according to Origen he fittingly attributes light to life because light can be attributed only to the living

17

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

101 We should note that light can be related in two ways to what is living as an object and as something in which they participate as is clear in external sight For the eyes know external light as an object but if they are to see it they must participate in an inner light by which the eyes are adapted and disposed for seeing the external light And so his statement And that life was the light of men can be understood in two ways First that the light of men is taken as an object that man alone can look upon because the rational creature alone can see it since he alone is capable of the vision of God who ldquoteaches us more than the beasts of the earth and enlightens us more than the birds of the airrdquo Jb 3511) for although other animals may know certain things that are true nevertheless man alone knows the nature itself of truth

The light of men can also be taken as a light in which we participate For we would never be able to look upon the Word and light itself except through a participation in it and this participation is in man and is the superior part of our soul ie the intellectual light about which the Psalm (47) says ldquoThe light of your countenance O Lord is marked upon usrdquo ie of your Son who is your face by whom you are manifested

102 Having introduced a certain light the Evangelist now considers its irradiation saying And the light shines in the darkness This can be explained in two ways according to the two meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

First we might take ldquodarknessrdquo as a natural defect that of the created mind For the mind is to that light of which the Evangelist speaks here as air is to the light of the sun because although air is receptive of the light of the sun considered in itself it is a darkness According to this the meaning is the light ie that life which is the light of men shines in the darkness ie in created souls and minds by always shedding its light on all ldquoOn a man from whom the light is hiddenrdquo (Jb 323)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie enclose it [ie intellectually] For to overcome something [comprehendere to overcome to comprehend to seize or apprehend and so forth] is to enclose and understand its boundaries As Augustine says to reach God with the mind is a great happiness but to overcome [comprehend] him is impossible And so the darkness did not overcome it ldquoBehold God is great exceeding our knowledgerdquo (Jb 3626) ldquoGreat in counsel incomprehensible in thoughtrdquo as Jeremiah (3219) says This explanation is found in that homily which begins ldquoThe spiritual voice of the eaglerdquo103 We can explain this passage in another way by taking ldquodarknessrdquo as Augustine does for the natural lack of wisdom in man which is called a darkness ldquoAnd I saw that wisdom excells folly as much as light excells knowledgerdquo (Ecc 213) Someone is without wisdom therefore because he lacks the light of divine wisdom Consequently just as the minds of the wise are lucid by reason of a participation in that divine light and wisdom so by the lack of it they are darkness Now the fact that some are darkness is not due to a defect in that light since on its part it shines in the darkness and radiates upon all Rather the foolish are lsquowithout that light because the darkness did not overcome it ie they did not apprehend it not being able to attain a participation in it due to their foolishness after having been lifted up they did not persevere ldquoFrom the savagerdquo ie from the proud ldquohe hides his lightrdquo ie the light of wisdom ldquoand shows his friend that it belongs to him and that he may approach itrdquo (Jb 3632) ldquoThey did not know the way to wisdom nor did they remember her pathsrdquo (Bar 323)

Although some minds are darkness ie they lack savory and lucid wisdom nevertheless no man is in such darkness as to be completely devoid of divine light because whatever truth is know by anyone is due to a participation in that light which shines in the darkness for every truth no matter by whom it is spoken comes from the Holy Spirit Yet the darkness ie

18

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

men in darkness did not overcome it apprehend it in truth This is the way [ ie with respect to the natural influx of knowledge] that Origen and Augustine explain this clause

104 Starting from And that life was the light of men we can explain this in another way according to the influx of grace since we are illuminated by Christ

After he had considered the creation of things through the Word the Evangelist considers here the restoration of the rational creature through Christ saying And that life of the Word was the light of men ie of all men in general and not only of the Jews For the Son of God assumed flesh and came into the world to illumine all men with grace and truth ldquoI came into the world for this to testify to the truthrdquo (below 1837) ldquoAs long as I am in the world I am the light of the worldrdquo (below 95) So he does not say ldquothe light of the Jewsrdquo because although previously he had been known only in Judea he later became known to the world ldquoI have given you as a light to the nations that you might be my salvation to the ends of the earthrdquo (Is 496)

It was fitting to join light and life by saying And that life was the light of men in order to show that these two have come to us through Christ life through a participation in grace ldquoGrace and truth have come through Jesus Christrdquo (below 117) and light by a knowledge of truth and wisdom

105 According to this explanation the light shines in the darkness can be expounded in three ways in the light of the three meanings of ldquodarknessrdquo

In one way we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for punishment For any sadness and suffering of heart can be called a darkness just as any joy can be called a light ldquoWhen I sit in darkness and in suffering the Lord is my lightrdquo ie my joy and consolation (Mi 78) And so Origen says In this explanation the light shines in the darkness is Christ coming into the world having a body capable of suffering and without sin but ldquoin the likeness of sinful fleshrdquo (Rom 83) The light is in the flesh that is the flesh of Christ which is called a darkness insofar as it has a likeness to sinful flesh As if to say The light ie the Word of God veiled about by the darkness of the flesh shines on the world ldquoI will cover the sun with a cloudrdquo (Ez 327)

106 Secondly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo to mean the devils as in Ephesians (612) ldquoOur struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darknessrdquo Looked at this way he says the light ie the Son of God shines in the darkness ie has descended into the world where darkness ie the devils hold sway ldquoNow the prince of this world will be cast outrdquo (below 1231) And the darkness ie the devils did not overcome it ie were unable to obscure him by their temptations as is plain in Matthew (c 4)

107 Thirdly we can take ldquodarknessrdquo for the error or ignorance which filled the whole world before the coming of Christ ldquoYou were at one time darknessrdquo (Eph 58) And so he says that the light ie the incarnate Word of God shines in the darkness ie upon the men of the world who are blinded by the darkness or error and ignorance ldquoTo enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of deathrdquo (Lk 179) ldquoThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great lightrdquo (Is 92)

And the darkness did not overcome it ie did not overcome him For in spite of the number of men darkened by sin blinded by envy shadowed over by pride who have struggled against Christ (as is plain from the Gospel) by upbraiding him heaping insults and calumnies upon him and finally killing him nevertheless they did not overcome it ie gain the victory of so obscuring him that his brightness would not shine throughout the whole

19

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

world Wisdom (730) says ldquoCompared to light she takes precedence for night supplants it but wisdomrdquo that is the incarnate Son of God ldquois not overcome by wickednessrdquo that is of the Jews and of heretics because it says ldquoShe gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that wisdom is mightier than all elserdquo (Wis 1012)

Note the role played by the Holy Spirit in the creation of man

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) The Eight Article pp 49 50

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE EIGHTH ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in the Holy Ghostrdquo

Now the soul is created by the Holy Spirit because God has made all things through Him for God by loving His goodness created everything ldquoThou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast maderdquo[18]

ENDNOTES

18 Wis xi 25

8 On certain natural phenomena as pointing to the existence of God

Cf Plutarch Philosophical Essays In Plutarchrsquos Complete Works edited by W Lloyd Bevan Vol Essays and Miscellanies Vol I (New York 1909)

SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERSWERE DELIGHTED

BOOK I

CHAPTER VI

WHENCE DID MEN OBTAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCEAND ESSENCE OF A DEITY

To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the deity when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony that they regulate day and night winter and summer by their rising and setting and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things and the Earth the mother that the Heaven was the father is clear since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters which have their spermatic faculty the Earth the mother because she receives them and brings forth Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpet-ual motion that the sun and moon give us the stimulus to view and contemplate (θεωϱεῖν) they call them all gods (θεούς)

In sum

20

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

That the existence of God may be inferred from the movements of the heavenly bodies (having seen the stars running in a perpetual motion men are led to calling them gods)

That such bodies ldquoregulated day and night winter and summer by their rising and settingrdquo

That certain things in the earth fructify by their influences thereby producing living creatures out of the elements

That because of these things men called the Heaven father and the Earth mother

9 Elaborations of the foregoing

On the celestial motions as giving rise to the notion of God cf Sextus Empiricus Math 9 (Phys I) 26-27 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 13) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 b p 85

Some men when they come to the unswerving and well-ordered movement of the heavenly bodies say that in this the thought of gods had its origin for as if one had sat on the Trojan Mount Ida and seen the array of the Greeks approaching the plains in good order and arrangement lsquohorsemen first with horses and chariots and footmen behindrsquo1 such a one would certainly have come to think that there was someone arranging such an array and commanding the soldiers ranged under him Nestor or some other hero who knew lsquohow to order horses and bucklered warriorsrsquo2 And as one familiar with ships as soon as he sees from afar a ship running before the wind with all its sails well set knows that there is someone directing it and steering it3 to its appointed harbours so those who first looked up to heaven and saw the sun running its race from its rising to its setting and the orderly dances of the stars looked for the Craftsman of this lovely design and surmised that it came about not by chance but by the agency of some mightier and imperishable nature which was God

1 Hom Il 4 2972 Ibid 2 5543 Reading in R 29 6 katagwn with Mutchsmann

Cf Sextus Empiricus Phys I 20-23 (= Aristotle On Philosophy frag R3 12) tr W D Ross The Works of Aristotle Vol XII Select Fragments 12 a p 84

Aristotle used to say that menrsquos thought of gods sprang from two sourcesmdashthe experiences of the soul and the phenomena of the heavens To the first head belonged the inspiration and prophetic power of the soul in dreams For when he says the soul is isolated in sleep it assumes its true nature and foresees and foretells the future So it is too with the soul when at death it is severed from the body At all events Aristotle accepts even Homer as having observed this for Homer has represented Patroclus in the moment of his death as foretelling the death of Hector and Hector as foretelling the end of Achilles It was from such events he says that men came to suspect the existence of something divine1 of that which is in itself akin to the soul and of all things most full of knowledge

But the heavenly bodies also contributed to this belief seeing by day the sun running his circular course and by night the well-ordered movement of the other stars they came to think that there is a God who is the cause of such movement and order Such was the belief of Aristotle1 Reading in R 28 13 qei=on with Mutschmann

21

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

Cf also the following taken from the Internet

It is very difficult to observe the things in the heavens and conclude that there is no God One has to be truly blind spiritually to miss the profound glory expressed by Godrsquos creation Commenting on Psalm 191 the Wycliffe Commentary says

each of these (The heavens the firmament and the sun) has its part in making known the mystery of Godrsquos glory In constant revelation by day and by night the expanse of the heavens reveals the excellence of Godrsquos creative work [1]

Mathew Henry in his introduction to Psalm 191 says it well

From the things that are seen every day by all the world the psalmist in these verses leads us to the consideration of the invisible things of God whose being appears incontestably evident and whose glory shines transcendently bright in the visible heavens the structure and beauty of them and the order and influence of the heavenly bodies This instance of the divine power serves not only to show the folly of atheists who see there is a heaven and yet say ldquoThere is no Godrdquo who see the effect and yet say ldquoThere is no causerdquo but to show the folly of idolaters also and the vanity of their imagination who though the heavens declare the glory of God yet gave that glory to the lights of heaven which those very lights directed them to give to God only the Father of lights[2]

[1] Wycliffe Commentary CD Rom version[2] Matthew Henryrsquos Commentary CD Rom version

On the lights of heaven as lsquoregulatingrsquo day and night cf Gen 114-19 (Douay-Rheims)

114 And God said Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years 115 To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth and it was so done 116 And God made two great lights a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night and the stars 117 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth 118 And to rule the day and the night and to divide the light and the darkness And God saw that it was good 119 And the evening and morning were the fourth day

On the sun as being a lsquogreaterrsquo light and the moon a lsquolesserrsquo and the orderliness consequent upon their motions cf The Introduction of Alcinous to the Doctrines of Plato (14) In The Works of Plato Vol VI translated by George Burges

The Sun is the leader of all showing and illuminating all things But the Moon is seen in the second rank on account of her power and the other planets proportionally each according to its own share Now the Moon makes the measure of a month after it has completely gone through its own revolution and overtaken the Sun in such (a time) but the Sun in that of a year For after it has gone round the circle of the Zodiac it completes the seasons of the year while the rest make use singly of their own periodical revolutions which are beheld not by ordinary persons but by the properly instructed Now from all these revolutions the perfect number and time is completed when all the planets after arriving at the same point obtain such an arrangement that a straight line being conceived to be let fall from the non-wandering sphere to the earth in the manner of a perpendicular the centres of all are seen upon that line There being then seven spheres in the wandering sphere the deity

22

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

made seven visible bodies out of a substance for the most part fire-like and fitted them to the spheres formed out of the circle of the different and the wandering And he placed the Moon in the first circle after the Earth and the Sun he arranged for the second circle and Lucifer and the so-called sacred star of Hermes into the circle which moves with a velocity equal to the Sun but at a distance from it and above the rest (each) in its own sphere the slowest of them lying under the sphere of the non-wandering which some call by the name of the star of Saturn and that which is the next after it in slowness by the name of Jupiter under which is that of Mars But in the eighth the power which is above is thrown around them all And all these are living intellectual beings and gods and of a spherical form (emphasis added)

On ldquofructifyingrdquo in the earth cf John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Gene-sis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind

hellipnot that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapesrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf CF Keil and F Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes Volume I The Pentateuch Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids 1973) on Gen 12

ldquoAnd darkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo הוםם from ת to roar to rage denotes the הוraging waters the roaring waves (Psa_427) or flood (Exo_155 Deu_87) and hence the depths of the sea (Job_2814 Job_3816) and even the abyss of the earth (Psa_7120) As an old traditional word it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald Gramm) The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished un-formed and as it were unborn was a heaving deep an abyss of waters (αβυσσος lxx) and this deep was wrapped in darkness1 But it was in process of formation for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters ח denotes wind and spirit like (breath) רוπνευνα from πνεω Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret etc) for the verb does not suit this meaning but the creative Spirit of God the principle of all life (Psa_336 Psa_10430) which worked upon the formless lifeless mass separating quickening and preparing the living forms which were called into being by the creative words that followed in the רחף Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young to warm them and develop their vital powers (Deu_3211) In such a way as this the Spirit of God moved upon the deep which had received at its creation the germs of all life to fill them with vital energy by His breath of life The three statements in our verse are parallel the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the of the first והיחה All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe This suffices to prove that the theosophic speculation of those who ldquomake a gap between the first two verses and fill it with a wild horde of evil spirits and their demoniacal works is an arbitrary interpolationrdquo (Ziegler) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

1 For further elaboration on this conception of ldquothe deeprdquo see below

23

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

Reply to Objection 4 hellipIt is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquidhellip (emphasis added)

Cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals III 11 (762a 8-33) (tr Arthur Platt)

All those which do not bud off or lsquospawnrsquo are spontaneously generated Now all things formed in this way whether in earth or water manifestly come into [10] being in connexion with putrefaction and an admixture of rain-water For as the sweet is separated off into the matter which is forming the residue of the mixture takes such a form Nothing comes into being by putrefying but by concocting putrefaction and the thing putrefied is only a residue of that which is concocted For [15] nothing comes into being out of the whole of anything any more than in the products of art if it did art would have nothing to do but as it is in the one case art removes the useless material in the other Nature does so Animals and plants come into being in earth and in liquid because there is water in earth and air [= pneuma] in water [20] and in all air is vital heat [cf 736b 35 ff] so that in a sense all things are full of soul Therefore living things form quickly whenever this air and vital heat are enclosed in anything When they are so enclosed the corporeal liquids being heated there arises as it [25] were a frothy bubble Whether what is forming is to be more or less honourable in kind depends on the embracing of the psychical principle this again depends on the medium in which the generation takes place and the material which is included Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind the earthy matter [30] hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire) and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it (emphasis added)

On naming the Heaven ldquofatherrdquo and the Earth ldquomotherrdquo cf Aristotle On the Generation of Animals I 2 (715b 14-16) (tr Arthur Platt)

For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another and by a female that which generates in itself wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also [15] naming Earth mother as being female but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers as causing generation (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q 4 art 2 ad 28

Reply to the Twenty-eighth Objection

hellipNow the production of plants from the earth into actual existence belongs to the work of propagation since the powers of the heavenly body as father and of the earth as mother suffice for their productionhellip (emphasis added)

Cf also St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 115 art 2 ad 4 (tr Alfred J Freddoso)

Reply to Objection 4 From the words of Augustine when speaking of these seminal virtues it is easy to gather that they are also causal virtues just as seed is a kind of cause for he says (De Trin iii 9) that ldquoas a mother is pregnant with the unborn

24

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

offspring so is the world itself pregnant with the causes of unborn thingsrdquohellip (emphasis added)

For a universal statement of this usage cf The Way Things Are The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington 1968) II 991-998

We have all come from heavenly seed we allHave the same father and our mother earthReceives from him the fertilizing showersSo pregnant she brings forth the shining grainThe trees that make us glad the race of menThe generations of wild beasts the foodBy which they feed increase and multiplyShe is rightly called our mother

Cf Review of Jonathan Duncan The Religions of Profane Antiquity (London 1839) In The Monthly Review from January to April Inclusive 1839 Vol I

ART IXmdash The Religions of Profane Antiquity their Mythology Fables Hieroglyphics and Doctrines Founded on Astronomical Principles By JONATHAN DUNCAN B A London Rickerbylthellipgt

ldquoThe heavens were supposed to discharge the functions of a father and the earth those of a mother Light heat and rain descending from above quickened vegetation and fertilized the soil The genial warmth of the Sun infused physical life into the womb of the earth which otherwise would have remained sterile and unfruitful Being from its very position subjected to the heavens which cover and encompass it in all directions the earth appeared to be the recipient of the fructifying principle poured down into its matrix from above and on this notion the doctrine of the active and passive powers of nature was foundedrdquo

AgainmdashldquoIn this sublunary world everything was subjected to the dominion of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the birth growth decay and death of man animals and vegetables depended on the influence of this circle of generation Hence it was supposed that certain signs had a greater relation to and conformity with certain elements than others The four elements were accordingly distributed among the twelve signs so that each element was attached to three signs in the order of fire earth air and water Taking Leo the house of the Sun as the first of the series and fixing in it the seat of fire then earth would fall under Virgo or Ceres as she was called air under Libra and water under Scorpio In continuing and repeating the series fire takes a second position in Sagittarius earth in Capricornus air in Aquarius and water in Pisces A third distribution places fire in Aries earth in Taurus air in Gemini and water in Cancer (emphasis added)

For a text bringing together the considerations of the two preceding sections cf Lactan-tius The Divine Institutes Book II ldquoOn the Origin of Errorrdquo In The Ante-Nicene Fathers translations of the writings of the Fathers down to AD 325 Vol 7 ch 12

CHAPTER 12 ndash THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY BUT BY A DIVINE ARRANGEMENT OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE IF IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT

25

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

They say that at certain changes of the heaven and motions of the stars there existed a kind of maturity for the production of animals and thus that the new earth retaining the productive seed brought forth of itself certain vessels after the likeness of wombs respecting which Lucretius says

Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots

and that these when they had become mature being rent by the compulsion of nature produced tender animals afterwards that the earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk and that animals were supported by this nourishment How then were they able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat or to be born at all since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them But they say at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature Why then do we see that none of these things now happens Because they say it was necessary that it should once happen that animals might be born but after they began to exist and the power of generation was given to them the earth ceased to bring forth and the condition of time was changed Oh how easy it is to refute falsehoods In the first place nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent as it began For neither were the sun and moon and stars then uncreated nor having been created were they without their motions nor did that divine government which manages and rules their courses fail to begin its exercise together with them In the next place if it is as they say there must of necessity be a providence and they fall into that very condition which they especially avoid For while the animals were yet unborn it is plain that someone provided that they should be born that the world might not appear gloomy with waste and desolation But that they might be produced from the earth without the office of parents provision must have been made with great judgment and in the next place that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed into the various figures of bodies and also that having received from the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and sensation they might be poured forth as it were from the womb of mothers is a wonderful and indescribable provision But let us suppose that this also happened by chance the circumstances which follow assuredly cannot be by chance ndash that the earth should at once flow with milk and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be equable And if these things plainly happened that the newly born animals might have nourishment or be free from danger it must be that someone provided these things by some divine counsel But who is able to make this provision except God

Let us however see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken place that men should be born from the earth If any one considers during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared he will assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly have been reared without someone to bring them up For they must have lain for many months cast forth until their sinews were strengthened so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place which can scarcely happen within the space of one year Now see whether an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in the same place where it was cast forth without dying overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake of nourishment and by the excrements of its own body mixed together Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by someone unless indeed all animals are born not in a tender condition but grown up and it never came into their mind to say this Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain if that can be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence he assuredly does not assert but overthrows method But if nothing can be done or produced without design it is plain that there is a divine providence to which that which is called design peculiarly belongs There-

26

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

fore God the Contriver of all things made man And even Cicero though ignorant of the sacred writings saw this who in his treatise on the Laws in the first book handed down the same thing as the prophets and I add his words ldquoThis animal foreseeing sagacious various acute gifted with memory full of method and design which we call man was produced by the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances for this alone of so many kinds and natures of animals partakes of judgment and reflection when all other animals are destitute of themrdquo Do you see that the man although far removed from the knowledge of the truth yet inasmuch as he held the image of wisdom understood that man could not be produced except by God But however there is need of divine testimony lest that of man should be insufficient The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God

He who is the only God being the invincible Creator He Himself fixed the figure of the form of men

He Himself mixed the nature of all belonging to the generation of life

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect Therefore God discharged the office of a true father He Himself formed the body He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe Whatever we are it is altogether His work In what manner He effected this He would have taught us if it were right for us to know as He taught us other things which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light (emphasis added)

Also relevant here is the following Cf ibid ch 10 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 10 ndash OF THE WORLD AND ITS PARTS THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS

Now having refuted those who entertain false sentiments respecting the world and God its Maker let us return to the divine workmanship of the world concerning which we are informed in the sacred writings of our holy religion Therefore first of all God made the heaven and suspended it on high that it might be the seat of God Himself the Creator Then He founded the earth and placed it under the heaven as a dwelling-place for man with the other races of animals He willed that it should be surrounded and held together by water But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-place with bright lights He decked it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars but He placed on the earth the darkness which is contrary to these For of itself the earth con-tains no light unless it receives it from the heaven in which He placed perpetual light and the gods above and eternal life and on the contrary He placed on the earth darkness and the inhabitants of the lower regions and death For these things are as far removed from the former ones as evil things are from good and vices from virtues lthellipgt

And even in the making of these [namely the sun and moon] God had regard to the future for He made them so that a representation of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown from these For as the sun which rises daily although it is but one ndash from which Cicero would have it appear that it was called Sol because the stars are obscured and it alone is seen ndash yet since it is a true light and of perfect fulness and of most powerful heat and enlightens all things with the brightest splendour so God although He is one only is possessed of perfect majesty and might and splendour But night which we say is assigned to that depraved adversary of God shows by a resemblance the many and various super-stitions which belong to him For although innumerable stars appear to glitter and shine yet because they are not full and solid lights and send forth no heat nor overpower the darkness by their multitude therefore these two things are found to be of chief importance which have power differing from and opposed to one another ndash heat and moisture which God wonderfully designed for the support and production of all things

27

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

For since the power of God consists in heat and fire1 if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter of moisture and cold nothing could have been born or have existed but whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by conflagration From which also some philosophers and poets said that the world was made up of a discordant concord but they did not thoroughly understand the matter Heraclitus said that all things were produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water Each saw something of the truth and yet each was in error for if one element only had existed water could not have been produced from fire nor on the other hand could fire from water but it is more true that all things were produced from a mingling of the two Fire indeed cannot be mixed with water because they are opposed to each other and if they came into collision the one which proved superior must destroy the other But their substances may be mingled The substance of fire is heat of water moisture Rightly therefore does Ovid say For when moisture and heat have become mingled they con-ceive and all things arise from these two And though fire is at variance with water moist vapour produces all things and discordant concord is adapted to production For the one element is as it were masculine the other as it were feminine the one active the other passive And on this account it was appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by the solemnity of fire and water because the young of animals are furnished with a body by heat and moisture and are thus animated to life (emphasis added)

Cf St Athanasius Against the Heathen Translated by Archibald Robertson From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol 4 Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo 1892) Book III chh 40 44-46

sect40 The rationality and order of the Universe proves that it is the work of the Reason or Word of God

Who then might this Maker be for this is a point most necessary to make plain lest from ignorance with regard to him a man should suppose the wrong maker and fall once more into the same old godless error but I think no one is really in doubt about it For if our argument has proved that the gods of the poets are no gods and has convicted of error those that deify creation and in general has shewn that the idolatry of the heathen is godlessness and impiety it strictly follows from the elimination of these that the true religion is with us and that the God we worship and preach is the only true One Who is Lord of Creation and Maker of all existence 2 Who then is this save the Father of Christ most holy and above all created existence161

161 Cf above 2 2 and note also 35 1

Who like an excellent pilot by His own Wisdom and His own Word our Lord and Saviour Christ steers and preserves and orders all things and does as seems to Him best But that is best which has been done and which we see taking place since that is what He wills and this a man can hardly refuse to believe 3 For if the movement of creation were irrational and the universe were borne along without plan a man might fairly disbelieve what we say But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill and is perfectly ordered throughout it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God 4 But by Word I mean not that which is involved and inherent in all things created which some are wont to call the seminal162

162 σπερματικός

1 Note that whereas earth and water are mentioned by name while air is implied by the Spirit of God moving over the waters the element of fire is not otherwise specified

28

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

principle which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought but only works by external art according to the skill of him that applies itmdashnor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables and has the air as its vehicle of expressionmdashbut I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God the God of the Universe the very Word which is God163

163 Joh i 1

Who while different from things that are made and from all Creation is the One own Word of the good Father Who by His own providence ordered and illumines this Universe 5 For being the good Word of the Good Father He produced the order of all things combining one with another things contrary and reducing them to one har-monious order He being the Power of God and Wisdom of God causes the heaven to revolve and has suspended the earth and made it fast though resting upon nothing by His own nod164

164 νεῦμα ie act of will or fiat

Illumined by Him the sun gives light to the world and the moon has her measured period of shining By reason of Him the water is suspended in the clouds the rains shower upon the earth and the sea is

[27-27]

kept within bounds while the earth bears grasses and is clothed with all manner of plants 6 And if a man were incredulously to ask as regards what we are saying if there be a Word of God at all165

165 De Incarn 41 3

such an one would indeed be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God but yet demonstration is possible from what is seen because all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God nor would any created thing have had a fixed existence had it not been made by reason and that reason the Word of God as we have said

lthellipgt

sect44 The similes applied to the whole Universe seen and unseen

For by a nod and by the power of the Divine Word of the Father that governs and presides over all the heaven revolves the stars move the sun shines the moon goes her circuit and the air receives the sunrsquos light and the aeligther his heat and the winds blow the mountains are reared on high the sea is rough with waves and the living things in it grow the earth abides fixed and bears fruit and man is formed and lives and dies again and all things whatever have their life and movement fire burns water cools fountains spring forth rivers flow seasons and hours come round rains descend clouds are filled hail is formed snow and ice congeal birds fly creeping things go along water-animals swim the sea is navigated the earth is sown and grows crops in due season plants grow and some are young some ripening others in their growth become old and decay and while some things are vanishing others are being engendered and are coming to light 2 But all these things and more which for their number we cannot mention the worker of wonders and marvels the Word of God giving light and life moves and orders by His own nod making the universe one Nor does He leave out of Himself even the invisible powers for including these also in the universe inasmuch as he is their maker also He holds them together and quickens them by His nod and by His providence And there can be no excuse for disbelieving this 3 For as by His own providence bodies grow and the

29

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

rational soul moves and possesses life and thought and this requires little proof for we see what takes placemdashso again the same Word of God with one simple nod by His own power moves and holds together both the visible universe and the invisible powers allotting to each its proper function so that the divine powers move in a diviner way while visible things move as they are

[28-29]

seen to do But Himself being over all both Governor and King and organising power He does all for the glory and knowledge of His own Father so that almost by the very works that He brings to pass He teaches us and says ldquoBy the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seenrdquo172

172 Wisd xiii 5

sect45 CONCLUSION Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part I

For just as by looking up to the heaven and seeing its order and the light of the stars it is possible to infer the Word Who ordered these things so by beholding the Word of God one needs must behold also God His Father proceeding from Whom He is rightly called His Fatherrsquos Interpreter and Messenger 2 And this one may see from our own experience for if when a word proceeds from men173

173 Cf de Sent Dionys 23

we infer that the mind is its source and by thinking about the word see with our reason the mind which it reveals by far greater evidence and incomparably more seeing the power of the Word we receive a knowledge also of His good Father as the Saviour Himself says ldquoHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Fatherrdquo174

174 Joh xiv 9

But this all inspired Scripture also teaches more plainly and with more authority so that we in our turn write boldly to you as we do and you if you refer to them will be able to verify what we say 3 For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said175

175 Ex xx 4

ldquoThou shalt not make to thyself a graven image nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or in the earth beneathrdquo But the cause of their abolition another writer declares saying 176

176 Ps cxv 4ndash7 ldquoThe idols of the heathen are silver and gold the works of menrsquos hands a mouth have they and will not speak eyes have they and will not see ears have they and will not hear noses have they and will not smell hands have they and will not handle feet have they and will not walkrdquo Nor has it passed over in silence the doctrine of creation but knowing well its beauty lest any attending solely to this beauty should worship things as if they were gods instead of Godrsquos works it teaches men firmly beforehand when it saysrdquo177

177 Deut iv 19

ldquoAnd do not when thou lookest up with thine eyes and seest the sun and moon and all the host of heaven go astray and worship them which the Lord thy God hath given to all nations under heavenrdquo But He gave them not to be their gods but that by their agency the Gentiles should know as we have said God the Maker of them all 4 For

30

the people of the Jews of old had abundant teaching in that they had the knowledge of God not only from the works of Creation but also from the divine Scriptures And in general to draw men away from the error and irrational imagination of idols He saith178

178 Ex xx 3

ldquoThou shalt have none other gods but Merdquo Not as if there were other gods does He forbid them to have them but lest any turning from the true God should begin to make himself gods of what were not such as those who in the poets and writers are called gods though they are none And the language itself shews that they are no Gods when it says ldquoThou shalt have none other godsrdquo which refers only to the future But what is referred to the future does not exist at the time of speakingsect46 Doctrine of Scripture on the subject of Part 3

Has then the divine teaching which abolished the godlessness of the heathen or the idols passed over in silence and left the race of mankind to go entirely unprovided with the knowledge of God Not so rather it anticipates their understanding when it says179

179 Deut vi 4 5 13

ldquoHear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Godrdquo and again ldquoThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy strengthrdquo and again ldquoThou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve and shalt cleave to Himrdquo 2 But that the providence and ordering power of the Word also over all and toward all is attested by all inspired Scripture this passage suffices to confirm our argument where men who speak of God say180

180 Ps cxix 90

ldquoThou hast laid the foundation of the earth and it abideth The day continueth according to Thine ordinancerdquo And again181

181 Ps cxlvii 7ndash9

ldquoSing to our God upon the harp that covereth the heaven with clouds that prepareth rain for the earth that bringeth forth grass upon the mountains and green herb for the service of man and giveth food to the cattlerdquo 3 But by whom does He give it save by Him through Whom all things were made For the providence over all things belongs naturally to Him by Whom they were made and who is this save the Word of God concerning Whom in another psalm182

182 Ps xxxiii 6

he says ldquoBy the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the Breath of His mouthrdquo For He tells us that all things were made in Him and through Him 4 Wherefore He also persuades us and says183

183 Ps cxlviii 5

29-30

ldquoHe spake and they were made He commanded and they were createdrdquo as the illustrious Moses also at the beginning of his account of Creation confirms what we say by his narrative184

184 Gen i 20

31

saying and God said ldquolet us make man in our image and after our likenessrdquo for also when He was carrying out the creation of the heaven and earth and all things the Father said to Him185

185 Gen i 6ndash11

ldquoLet the heaven be maderdquo and ldquolet the waters be gathered together and let the dry land appearrdquo and ldquolet the earth bring forth herbrdquo and ldquoevery green thingrdquo so that one must convict Jews also of not genuinely attending to the Scriptures 5 For one might ask them to whom was God speaking to use the imperative mood If He were commanding and addressing the things He was creating the utterance would be redundant for they were not yet in being but were about to be made but no one speaks to what does not exist nor addresses to what is not yet made a command to be made For if God were giving a command to the things that were to be He must have said ldquoBe made heaven and be made earth and come forth green herb and be created O manrdquo But in fact He did not do so but He gives the command thus ldquoLet us make manrdquo and ldquolet the green herb come forthrdquo By which God is proved to be speaking about them to some one at hand it follows then that some one was with Him to Whom He spoke when He made all things 6 Who then could it be save His Word For to whom could God be said to speak except His Word Or who was with Him when He made all created Existence except His Wisdom which says186

186 Prov viii 27

ldquoWhen He was making the heaven and the earth I was present with Himrdquo But in the mention of heaven and earth all created things in heaven and earth are included as well 7 But being present with Him as His Wisdom and His Word looking at the Father He fashioned the Universe and organised it and gave it order and as He is the power of the Father He gave all things strength to be as the Saviour says187

187 Joh v 19 Col i 16

ldquoWhat things soever I see the Father doing I also do in like mannerrdquo And His holy disciples teach that all things were made ldquothrough Him and unto Himrdquo 8 and being the good Offspring of Him that is good and true Son He is the Fatherrsquos Power and Wisdom and Word not being so by participation188

188 μετοχή cf de Syn 48 51 53 This was held by Arians but in common with Paul of Samos and many of the Monarchian heretics The same principle in Orig on Ps 135 (Lomm xiii 134) οὐ κατὰ μετουσίαν ἀλλὰ κατ᾽ οὐσίαν θεός

nor as if these qualifies were imparted to Him from without as they are to those who partake of Him and are made wise by Him and receive power and reason in Him but He is the very Wisdom very Word and very own Power of the Father very Light very Truth very Righteousness very Virtue and in truth His express Image and Brightness and Resemblance And to sum all up He is the wholly perfect Fruit of the Father and is alone the Son and unchanging Image of the Father (emphasis added)

Cf Clement of Rome Epistle to the Corinthians 201-17

201 The heavens are moved by His direction and obey Him in peace202 Day and night accomplish the course assigned to them by Him without hindrance one to another203 The sun and the moon and the dancing stars according to His appointment circle in harmony within the bounds assigned to them without any swerving aside

32

204 The earth bearing fruit in fulfilment of His will at her proper seasons putteth forth the food that supplieth abundantly both men and beasts and all living things which are thereupon making no dissension205 neither altering anything which He hath decreed206 Moreover the inscrutable depths of the abysses and the unutterable statutes of the nether regions are constrained by the same ordinances207 The basin of the boundless sea gathered together by His workmanship into its reservoirs passeth not the barriers wherewith it is surrounded208 but even as He ordered it so it doeth209 For He said So far shalt thou come and thy waves shall be broken within thee2010 The ocean which is impassable for men and the worlds beyond it are directed by the same ordinances of the Master2011 The seasons of spring and summer and autumn and winter give way in succession one to another in peace2012 The winds in their several quarters at their proper season fulfil their ministry without disturbance2013 and the everflowing fountains created for enjoyment and health without fail give their breasts which sustain the life for men2014 Yea the smallest of living things come together in concord and peace2015 All these things the great Creator and Master of the universe ordered to be in peace and concord doing good unto all things2016 but far beyond the rest unto us who have taken refuge in His compassionate mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ to whom be the glory and the majesty for ever and ever

2017 Amen

Cf Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

Genesis 19-13 DAY 3

Circle of the Earth

lthellipgt

Church Fathers

St Clement of Rome

St Clement of Rome in his epistle to the Corinthians (about 95 AD) briefly describes his view of the world as under the control of the creator which results in peace and enjoyment He says the following in chapter twenty

ltsee preceding excerptgt

In this chapter there is the common three-layer view of the world heaven earth and underworld Surrounding the earth is the ocean which man cannot pass Beyond the ocean are kosmoi ldquoworldsrdquo It is not certain what is meant by kosmoi It may refer to the under-world and upperworlds

Cf also Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemp-orary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge (London 1854-

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1_circleearthhtm [10108])

33

1890) II 7-9

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulter-ated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inani-mate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (emphasis added)

Cf John Milton ldquoParadise Lostrdquo (16xx) I1-22

Of Mans First Disobedience and the FruitOf that Forbidden Tree whose mortal tastBrought Death into the World and all our woeWith loss of Eden till one greater ManRestore us and regain the blissful Seat [5]Sing Heavrsquonly Muse that on the secret topOf Oreb or of Sinai didst inspireThat Shepherd who first taught the chosen SeedIn the Beginning how the Heavrsquons and EarthRose out of Chaos Or if Sion Hill [10]Delight thee more and Siloas Brook that flowrsquodFast by the Oracle of God I thenceInvoke thy aid to my adventrous SongThat with no middle flight intends to soarAbove thrsquo Aonian Mount while it pursues [15]Things unattempted yet in Prose or RhimeAnd chiefly Thou O Spirit that dost preferBefore all Temples thrsquo upright heart and pureInstruct me for Thou knowrsquost Thou from the firstWast present and with mighty wings outspread [20]Dove-like satst brooding on the vast AbyssAnd madrsquost it pregnant

10 The order of nature as revealing the providence of God

34

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) What is Faith pp 9-10

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE FIRST ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in One Godrdquo

Among all the truths which the faithful must believe this is the firstmdashthat there is one God We must see that God means the ruler and provider of all things He therefore believes in God who believes that everything in this world is governed and provided for by Him He who would believe that all things come into being by chance does not believe that there is a God No one is so foolish as to deny that all nature which operates with a certain definite time and order is subject to the rule and foresight and an orderly arrangement of someone We see how the sun the moon and the stars and all natural things follow a determined course which would be impossible if they were merely products of chance Hence as is spoken of in the Psalm he is indeed foolish who does not believe in God ldquoThe fool hath said in his heart There is no Godrdquo[1]

There are those however who believe that God rules and sustains all things of nature and nevertheless do not believe God is the overseer of the acts of man hence they believe that human acts do not come under Godrsquos providence They reason thus because they see in this world how the good are afflicted and how the evil enjoy good things so that Divine Providence seems to disregard human affairs Hence the words of Job are offered to apply to this view ldquoHe doth not consider our things and He walketh about the poles of heavenrdquo[2] But this is indeed absurd It is just as though a person who is ignorant of medicine should see a doctor give water to one patient and wine to another He would believe that this is mere chance since he does not understand the science of medicine which for good reasons prescribes for one wine and for another water So is it with God For God in His just and wise Providence knows what is good and necessary for men and hence He afflicts some who are good and allows certain wicked men to prosper But he is foolish indeed who believes this is due to chance because he does not know the causes and method of Godrsquos dealing with men ldquoI wish that God might speak with thee and would open His lips to thee that He might show thee the secrets of wisdom and that His law is manifold and thou mightest understand that He exacteth much less of thee than thy iniquity deservethrdquo[3]

We must therefore firmly believe that God governs and regulates not only all nature but also the actions of men ldquoAnd they said The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob understand Understand ye senseless among the people and you fools be wise at last He that planted the ear shall He not hear He that formed the eye doth He not consider The Lord knoweth the thoughts of menrdquo[4] God sees all things both our thoughts and the hidden desires of our will Thus the necessity of doing good is especially imposed on man since all his thoughts words and actions are known in the sight of God ldquoAll things are naked and open to His eyesrdquo[5] We believe that God who rules and regulates all things is but one God This is seen in that wherever [9-10] the regulation of human affairs is well arranged there the group is found to be ruled and provided for by one not many For a number of heads often brings dissension in their subjects But since divine government exceeds in every way that which is merely human it is evident that the government of the world is not by many gods but by one only[6]

ENDNOTES

35

1 Ps xiii 12 Job xxii 143 Job xi 5-64 Ps xciii 7-115 Heb iv 136 ldquoThere is but one God not many gods We attribute to God the highest goodness and perfection and it is impossible that what is highest and absolutely perfect could be found in many If a being lack that which constitutes supreme perfection it is therefore imperfect and cannot have the nature of Godrdquo (ldquoRoman Catechismrdquo ldquoThe Creedrdquo First Article 7)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job Prologue (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) (excerpt)

PROLOGUE

Just as things which are generated naturally reach perfection from imperfection by small degrees so it is with men in their knowledge of the truth For in the beginning they attained a very limited understanding of the truth but later they gradually came to know the truth in fuller measure Because of this many erred in the beginning about the truth from an imper-fect knowledge Among these there were some who excluded divine providence and attributed everything to fortune and to chance Indeed the opinion of these first men was not correct because they held that the world was made by chance This is evident from the posi-tion of the ancient natural philosophers who admitted only the material cause Even some later men like Democritus and Empedocles attributed things to chance in most things But by a more profound diligence in their contemplation of the truth later philosophers showed by evident proofs and reasons that natural things are set in motion by providence For such a sure course in the motion of the heavens and the stars and other effects of nature would not be found unless all these things were governed and ordered by some intellect transcending the things ordered

Therefore after the majority of men asserted the opinion that natural things did not happen by chance but by providence because of the order which clearly appears in them a doubt emerged among most men about the acts of man as to whether human affairs evolved by chance or were governed by some kind of providence or a higher ordering This doubt was fed especially because there is no sure order apparent in human events For good things do not always befall the good nor evil things the wicked On the other hand evil things do not always befall the good nor good things the wicked but good and evil indifferently befall both the good and the wicked This fact then especially moved the hearts of men to hold the opinion that human affairs are not governed by divine providence Some said that human affairs proceed by chance except to the extent that they are ruled by human providence and counsel others attributed their outcome to a fatalism ruled by the heavens This idea causes a great deal of harm to mankind For if divine providence is denied no reverence or true fear of God will remain among men Each man can weigh well how great will be the propensity for vice and the lack of desire for virtue which follows from this idea For nothing so calls men back from evil things and induces them to good so much as the fear and love of God For this reason the first and foremost aim of those who had pursued wisdom inspired by the spirit of God for the instruction of others was to remove this opinion from the hearts of men So after the promulgation of the Law and the Prophets the Book of Job occupies first place in the order of Holy Scripture the books composed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for the instruction of men The whole intention of this book is directed to this to show that human affairs are ruled by divine providence using probable arguments The methodology used in this book is to demonstrate this proposition from the supposition that natural things are governed by divine providence The affliction of just men is what seems especially to

36

impugn divine providence in human affairs For although it seems irrational and contrary to providence at first glance that good things sometimes happen to evil men nevertheless this can be excused in one way or another by divine compassion But that the just are afflicted without cause seems to undermine totally the foundation of providence Thus the varied and grave afflictions of a specific just man called Job perfect in every virtue are proposed as a kind of theme for the question intended for discussion

Cf Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemporary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge London H G Bohn 1854-1890] II 7-12

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy1 and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (11)

It is then a pernicious doctrine and one for which no one should contend to establish a system in this world such as anarchy is in a city so that it should have no superintendent or regulator or judge by whom everything must be managed and governed (12) But the great Moses thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes and is not always in the same condition) has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description Since then this world is visible and the object of our external senses it follows of necessity that it must have been created on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation giving a very venerable account of God

1 This is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (emphasis added)

Cf Plinyrsquos Natural History Book II Ch V (Loeb Classical Library vol 1 tr H Rackham 1944) (excerpt)

Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all menrsquos voices Fortune alone is invoked

37

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

204 The earth bearing fruit in fulfilment of His will at her proper seasons putteth forth the food that supplieth abundantly both men and beasts and all living things which are thereupon making no dissension205 neither altering anything which He hath decreed206 Moreover the inscrutable depths of the abysses and the unutterable statutes of the nether regions are constrained by the same ordinances207 The basin of the boundless sea gathered together by His workmanship into its reservoirs passeth not the barriers wherewith it is surrounded208 but even as He ordered it so it doeth209 For He said So far shalt thou come and thy waves shall be broken within thee2010 The ocean which is impassable for men and the worlds beyond it are directed by the same ordinances of the Master2011 The seasons of spring and summer and autumn and winter give way in succession one to another in peace2012 The winds in their several quarters at their proper season fulfil their ministry without disturbance2013 and the everflowing fountains created for enjoyment and health without fail give their breasts which sustain the life for men2014 Yea the smallest of living things come together in concord and peace2015 All these things the great Creator and Master of the universe ordered to be in peace and concord doing good unto all things2016 but far beyond the rest unto us who have taken refuge in His compassionate mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ to whom be the glory and the majesty for ever and ever

2017 Amen

Cf Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

Genesis 19-13 DAY 3

Circle of the Earth

lthellipgt

Church Fathers

St Clement of Rome

St Clement of Rome in his epistle to the Corinthians (about 95 AD) briefly describes his view of the world as under the control of the creator which results in peace and enjoyment He says the following in chapter twenty

ltsee preceding excerptgt

In this chapter there is the common three-layer view of the world heaven earth and underworld Surrounding the earth is the ocean which man cannot pass Beyond the ocean are kosmoi ldquoworldsrdquo It is not certain what is meant by kosmoi It may refer to the under-world and upperworlds

Cf also Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemp-orary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge (London 1854-

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1_circleearthhtm [10108])

33

1890) II 7-9

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulter-ated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inani-mate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (emphasis added)

Cf John Milton ldquoParadise Lostrdquo (16xx) I1-22

Of Mans First Disobedience and the FruitOf that Forbidden Tree whose mortal tastBrought Death into the World and all our woeWith loss of Eden till one greater ManRestore us and regain the blissful Seat [5]Sing Heavrsquonly Muse that on the secret topOf Oreb or of Sinai didst inspireThat Shepherd who first taught the chosen SeedIn the Beginning how the Heavrsquons and EarthRose out of Chaos Or if Sion Hill [10]Delight thee more and Siloas Brook that flowrsquodFast by the Oracle of God I thenceInvoke thy aid to my adventrous SongThat with no middle flight intends to soarAbove thrsquo Aonian Mount while it pursues [15]Things unattempted yet in Prose or RhimeAnd chiefly Thou O Spirit that dost preferBefore all Temples thrsquo upright heart and pureInstruct me for Thou knowrsquost Thou from the firstWast present and with mighty wings outspread [20]Dove-like satst brooding on the vast AbyssAnd madrsquost it pregnant

10 The order of nature as revealing the providence of God

34

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) What is Faith pp 9-10

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE FIRST ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in One Godrdquo

Among all the truths which the faithful must believe this is the firstmdashthat there is one God We must see that God means the ruler and provider of all things He therefore believes in God who believes that everything in this world is governed and provided for by Him He who would believe that all things come into being by chance does not believe that there is a God No one is so foolish as to deny that all nature which operates with a certain definite time and order is subject to the rule and foresight and an orderly arrangement of someone We see how the sun the moon and the stars and all natural things follow a determined course which would be impossible if they were merely products of chance Hence as is spoken of in the Psalm he is indeed foolish who does not believe in God ldquoThe fool hath said in his heart There is no Godrdquo[1]

There are those however who believe that God rules and sustains all things of nature and nevertheless do not believe God is the overseer of the acts of man hence they believe that human acts do not come under Godrsquos providence They reason thus because they see in this world how the good are afflicted and how the evil enjoy good things so that Divine Providence seems to disregard human affairs Hence the words of Job are offered to apply to this view ldquoHe doth not consider our things and He walketh about the poles of heavenrdquo[2] But this is indeed absurd It is just as though a person who is ignorant of medicine should see a doctor give water to one patient and wine to another He would believe that this is mere chance since he does not understand the science of medicine which for good reasons prescribes for one wine and for another water So is it with God For God in His just and wise Providence knows what is good and necessary for men and hence He afflicts some who are good and allows certain wicked men to prosper But he is foolish indeed who believes this is due to chance because he does not know the causes and method of Godrsquos dealing with men ldquoI wish that God might speak with thee and would open His lips to thee that He might show thee the secrets of wisdom and that His law is manifold and thou mightest understand that He exacteth much less of thee than thy iniquity deservethrdquo[3]

We must therefore firmly believe that God governs and regulates not only all nature but also the actions of men ldquoAnd they said The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob understand Understand ye senseless among the people and you fools be wise at last He that planted the ear shall He not hear He that formed the eye doth He not consider The Lord knoweth the thoughts of menrdquo[4] God sees all things both our thoughts and the hidden desires of our will Thus the necessity of doing good is especially imposed on man since all his thoughts words and actions are known in the sight of God ldquoAll things are naked and open to His eyesrdquo[5] We believe that God who rules and regulates all things is but one God This is seen in that wherever [9-10] the regulation of human affairs is well arranged there the group is found to be ruled and provided for by one not many For a number of heads often brings dissension in their subjects But since divine government exceeds in every way that which is merely human it is evident that the government of the world is not by many gods but by one only[6]

ENDNOTES

35

1 Ps xiii 12 Job xxii 143 Job xi 5-64 Ps xciii 7-115 Heb iv 136 ldquoThere is but one God not many gods We attribute to God the highest goodness and perfection and it is impossible that what is highest and absolutely perfect could be found in many If a being lack that which constitutes supreme perfection it is therefore imperfect and cannot have the nature of Godrdquo (ldquoRoman Catechismrdquo ldquoThe Creedrdquo First Article 7)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job Prologue (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) (excerpt)

PROLOGUE

Just as things which are generated naturally reach perfection from imperfection by small degrees so it is with men in their knowledge of the truth For in the beginning they attained a very limited understanding of the truth but later they gradually came to know the truth in fuller measure Because of this many erred in the beginning about the truth from an imper-fect knowledge Among these there were some who excluded divine providence and attributed everything to fortune and to chance Indeed the opinion of these first men was not correct because they held that the world was made by chance This is evident from the posi-tion of the ancient natural philosophers who admitted only the material cause Even some later men like Democritus and Empedocles attributed things to chance in most things But by a more profound diligence in their contemplation of the truth later philosophers showed by evident proofs and reasons that natural things are set in motion by providence For such a sure course in the motion of the heavens and the stars and other effects of nature would not be found unless all these things were governed and ordered by some intellect transcending the things ordered

Therefore after the majority of men asserted the opinion that natural things did not happen by chance but by providence because of the order which clearly appears in them a doubt emerged among most men about the acts of man as to whether human affairs evolved by chance or were governed by some kind of providence or a higher ordering This doubt was fed especially because there is no sure order apparent in human events For good things do not always befall the good nor evil things the wicked On the other hand evil things do not always befall the good nor good things the wicked but good and evil indifferently befall both the good and the wicked This fact then especially moved the hearts of men to hold the opinion that human affairs are not governed by divine providence Some said that human affairs proceed by chance except to the extent that they are ruled by human providence and counsel others attributed their outcome to a fatalism ruled by the heavens This idea causes a great deal of harm to mankind For if divine providence is denied no reverence or true fear of God will remain among men Each man can weigh well how great will be the propensity for vice and the lack of desire for virtue which follows from this idea For nothing so calls men back from evil things and induces them to good so much as the fear and love of God For this reason the first and foremost aim of those who had pursued wisdom inspired by the spirit of God for the instruction of others was to remove this opinion from the hearts of men So after the promulgation of the Law and the Prophets the Book of Job occupies first place in the order of Holy Scripture the books composed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for the instruction of men The whole intention of this book is directed to this to show that human affairs are ruled by divine providence using probable arguments The methodology used in this book is to demonstrate this proposition from the supposition that natural things are governed by divine providence The affliction of just men is what seems especially to

36

impugn divine providence in human affairs For although it seems irrational and contrary to providence at first glance that good things sometimes happen to evil men nevertheless this can be excused in one way or another by divine compassion But that the just are afflicted without cause seems to undermine totally the foundation of providence Thus the varied and grave afflictions of a specific just man called Job perfect in every virtue are proposed as a kind of theme for the question intended for discussion

Cf Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemporary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge London H G Bohn 1854-1890] II 7-12

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy1 and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (11)

It is then a pernicious doctrine and one for which no one should contend to establish a system in this world such as anarchy is in a city so that it should have no superintendent or regulator or judge by whom everything must be managed and governed (12) But the great Moses thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes and is not always in the same condition) has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description Since then this world is visible and the object of our external senses it follows of necessity that it must have been created on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation giving a very venerable account of God

1 This is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (emphasis added)

Cf Plinyrsquos Natural History Book II Ch V (Loeb Classical Library vol 1 tr H Rackham 1944) (excerpt)

Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all menrsquos voices Fortune alone is invoked

37

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

1890) II 7-9

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulter-ated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inani-mate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (emphasis added)

Cf John Milton ldquoParadise Lostrdquo (16xx) I1-22

Of Mans First Disobedience and the FruitOf that Forbidden Tree whose mortal tastBrought Death into the World and all our woeWith loss of Eden till one greater ManRestore us and regain the blissful Seat [5]Sing Heavrsquonly Muse that on the secret topOf Oreb or of Sinai didst inspireThat Shepherd who first taught the chosen SeedIn the Beginning how the Heavrsquons and EarthRose out of Chaos Or if Sion Hill [10]Delight thee more and Siloas Brook that flowrsquodFast by the Oracle of God I thenceInvoke thy aid to my adventrous SongThat with no middle flight intends to soarAbove thrsquo Aonian Mount while it pursues [15]Things unattempted yet in Prose or RhimeAnd chiefly Thou O Spirit that dost preferBefore all Temples thrsquo upright heart and pureInstruct me for Thou knowrsquost Thou from the firstWast present and with mighty wings outspread [20]Dove-like satst brooding on the vast AbyssAnd madrsquost it pregnant

10 The order of nature as revealing the providence of God

34

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) What is Faith pp 9-10

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE FIRST ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in One Godrdquo

Among all the truths which the faithful must believe this is the firstmdashthat there is one God We must see that God means the ruler and provider of all things He therefore believes in God who believes that everything in this world is governed and provided for by Him He who would believe that all things come into being by chance does not believe that there is a God No one is so foolish as to deny that all nature which operates with a certain definite time and order is subject to the rule and foresight and an orderly arrangement of someone We see how the sun the moon and the stars and all natural things follow a determined course which would be impossible if they were merely products of chance Hence as is spoken of in the Psalm he is indeed foolish who does not believe in God ldquoThe fool hath said in his heart There is no Godrdquo[1]

There are those however who believe that God rules and sustains all things of nature and nevertheless do not believe God is the overseer of the acts of man hence they believe that human acts do not come under Godrsquos providence They reason thus because they see in this world how the good are afflicted and how the evil enjoy good things so that Divine Providence seems to disregard human affairs Hence the words of Job are offered to apply to this view ldquoHe doth not consider our things and He walketh about the poles of heavenrdquo[2] But this is indeed absurd It is just as though a person who is ignorant of medicine should see a doctor give water to one patient and wine to another He would believe that this is mere chance since he does not understand the science of medicine which for good reasons prescribes for one wine and for another water So is it with God For God in His just and wise Providence knows what is good and necessary for men and hence He afflicts some who are good and allows certain wicked men to prosper But he is foolish indeed who believes this is due to chance because he does not know the causes and method of Godrsquos dealing with men ldquoI wish that God might speak with thee and would open His lips to thee that He might show thee the secrets of wisdom and that His law is manifold and thou mightest understand that He exacteth much less of thee than thy iniquity deservethrdquo[3]

We must therefore firmly believe that God governs and regulates not only all nature but also the actions of men ldquoAnd they said The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob understand Understand ye senseless among the people and you fools be wise at last He that planted the ear shall He not hear He that formed the eye doth He not consider The Lord knoweth the thoughts of menrdquo[4] God sees all things both our thoughts and the hidden desires of our will Thus the necessity of doing good is especially imposed on man since all his thoughts words and actions are known in the sight of God ldquoAll things are naked and open to His eyesrdquo[5] We believe that God who rules and regulates all things is but one God This is seen in that wherever [9-10] the regulation of human affairs is well arranged there the group is found to be ruled and provided for by one not many For a number of heads often brings dissension in their subjects But since divine government exceeds in every way that which is merely human it is evident that the government of the world is not by many gods but by one only[6]

ENDNOTES

35

1 Ps xiii 12 Job xxii 143 Job xi 5-64 Ps xciii 7-115 Heb iv 136 ldquoThere is but one God not many gods We attribute to God the highest goodness and perfection and it is impossible that what is highest and absolutely perfect could be found in many If a being lack that which constitutes supreme perfection it is therefore imperfect and cannot have the nature of Godrdquo (ldquoRoman Catechismrdquo ldquoThe Creedrdquo First Article 7)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job Prologue (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) (excerpt)

PROLOGUE

Just as things which are generated naturally reach perfection from imperfection by small degrees so it is with men in their knowledge of the truth For in the beginning they attained a very limited understanding of the truth but later they gradually came to know the truth in fuller measure Because of this many erred in the beginning about the truth from an imper-fect knowledge Among these there were some who excluded divine providence and attributed everything to fortune and to chance Indeed the opinion of these first men was not correct because they held that the world was made by chance This is evident from the posi-tion of the ancient natural philosophers who admitted only the material cause Even some later men like Democritus and Empedocles attributed things to chance in most things But by a more profound diligence in their contemplation of the truth later philosophers showed by evident proofs and reasons that natural things are set in motion by providence For such a sure course in the motion of the heavens and the stars and other effects of nature would not be found unless all these things were governed and ordered by some intellect transcending the things ordered

Therefore after the majority of men asserted the opinion that natural things did not happen by chance but by providence because of the order which clearly appears in them a doubt emerged among most men about the acts of man as to whether human affairs evolved by chance or were governed by some kind of providence or a higher ordering This doubt was fed especially because there is no sure order apparent in human events For good things do not always befall the good nor evil things the wicked On the other hand evil things do not always befall the good nor good things the wicked but good and evil indifferently befall both the good and the wicked This fact then especially moved the hearts of men to hold the opinion that human affairs are not governed by divine providence Some said that human affairs proceed by chance except to the extent that they are ruled by human providence and counsel others attributed their outcome to a fatalism ruled by the heavens This idea causes a great deal of harm to mankind For if divine providence is denied no reverence or true fear of God will remain among men Each man can weigh well how great will be the propensity for vice and the lack of desire for virtue which follows from this idea For nothing so calls men back from evil things and induces them to good so much as the fear and love of God For this reason the first and foremost aim of those who had pursued wisdom inspired by the spirit of God for the instruction of others was to remove this opinion from the hearts of men So after the promulgation of the Law and the Prophets the Book of Job occupies first place in the order of Holy Scripture the books composed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for the instruction of men The whole intention of this book is directed to this to show that human affairs are ruled by divine providence using probable arguments The methodology used in this book is to demonstrate this proposition from the supposition that natural things are governed by divine providence The affliction of just men is what seems especially to

36

impugn divine providence in human affairs For although it seems irrational and contrary to providence at first glance that good things sometimes happen to evil men nevertheless this can be excused in one way or another by divine compassion But that the just are afflicted without cause seems to undermine totally the foundation of providence Thus the varied and grave afflictions of a specific just man called Job perfect in every virtue are proposed as a kind of theme for the question intended for discussion

Cf Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemporary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge London H G Bohn 1854-1890] II 7-12

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy1 and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (11)

It is then a pernicious doctrine and one for which no one should contend to establish a system in this world such as anarchy is in a city so that it should have no superintendent or regulator or judge by whom everything must be managed and governed (12) But the great Moses thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes and is not always in the same condition) has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description Since then this world is visible and the object of our external senses it follows of necessity that it must have been created on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation giving a very venerable account of God

1 This is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (emphasis added)

Cf Plinyrsquos Natural History Book II Ch V (Loeb Classical Library vol 1 tr H Rackham 1944) (excerpt)

Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all menrsquos voices Fortune alone is invoked

37

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Cf St Thomas Aquinas The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas The Apostlersquos Creed In The Catechetical Instructions of St Thomas Aquinas Translated with a Commentary by Rev Joseph B Collins SS DD PhD Introduction by Rev Rudolph G Bandas PhD STD et M (Baltimore 1939) What is Faith pp 9-10

The Catechism of St Thomas Aquinas

THE FIRST ARTICLE ldquoI Believe in One Godrdquo

Among all the truths which the faithful must believe this is the firstmdashthat there is one God We must see that God means the ruler and provider of all things He therefore believes in God who believes that everything in this world is governed and provided for by Him He who would believe that all things come into being by chance does not believe that there is a God No one is so foolish as to deny that all nature which operates with a certain definite time and order is subject to the rule and foresight and an orderly arrangement of someone We see how the sun the moon and the stars and all natural things follow a determined course which would be impossible if they were merely products of chance Hence as is spoken of in the Psalm he is indeed foolish who does not believe in God ldquoThe fool hath said in his heart There is no Godrdquo[1]

There are those however who believe that God rules and sustains all things of nature and nevertheless do not believe God is the overseer of the acts of man hence they believe that human acts do not come under Godrsquos providence They reason thus because they see in this world how the good are afflicted and how the evil enjoy good things so that Divine Providence seems to disregard human affairs Hence the words of Job are offered to apply to this view ldquoHe doth not consider our things and He walketh about the poles of heavenrdquo[2] But this is indeed absurd It is just as though a person who is ignorant of medicine should see a doctor give water to one patient and wine to another He would believe that this is mere chance since he does not understand the science of medicine which for good reasons prescribes for one wine and for another water So is it with God For God in His just and wise Providence knows what is good and necessary for men and hence He afflicts some who are good and allows certain wicked men to prosper But he is foolish indeed who believes this is due to chance because he does not know the causes and method of Godrsquos dealing with men ldquoI wish that God might speak with thee and would open His lips to thee that He might show thee the secrets of wisdom and that His law is manifold and thou mightest understand that He exacteth much less of thee than thy iniquity deservethrdquo[3]

We must therefore firmly believe that God governs and regulates not only all nature but also the actions of men ldquoAnd they said The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob understand Understand ye senseless among the people and you fools be wise at last He that planted the ear shall He not hear He that formed the eye doth He not consider The Lord knoweth the thoughts of menrdquo[4] God sees all things both our thoughts and the hidden desires of our will Thus the necessity of doing good is especially imposed on man since all his thoughts words and actions are known in the sight of God ldquoAll things are naked and open to His eyesrdquo[5] We believe that God who rules and regulates all things is but one God This is seen in that wherever [9-10] the regulation of human affairs is well arranged there the group is found to be ruled and provided for by one not many For a number of heads often brings dissension in their subjects But since divine government exceeds in every way that which is merely human it is evident that the government of the world is not by many gods but by one only[6]

ENDNOTES

35

1 Ps xiii 12 Job xxii 143 Job xi 5-64 Ps xciii 7-115 Heb iv 136 ldquoThere is but one God not many gods We attribute to God the highest goodness and perfection and it is impossible that what is highest and absolutely perfect could be found in many If a being lack that which constitutes supreme perfection it is therefore imperfect and cannot have the nature of Godrdquo (ldquoRoman Catechismrdquo ldquoThe Creedrdquo First Article 7)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job Prologue (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) (excerpt)

PROLOGUE

Just as things which are generated naturally reach perfection from imperfection by small degrees so it is with men in their knowledge of the truth For in the beginning they attained a very limited understanding of the truth but later they gradually came to know the truth in fuller measure Because of this many erred in the beginning about the truth from an imper-fect knowledge Among these there were some who excluded divine providence and attributed everything to fortune and to chance Indeed the opinion of these first men was not correct because they held that the world was made by chance This is evident from the posi-tion of the ancient natural philosophers who admitted only the material cause Even some later men like Democritus and Empedocles attributed things to chance in most things But by a more profound diligence in their contemplation of the truth later philosophers showed by evident proofs and reasons that natural things are set in motion by providence For such a sure course in the motion of the heavens and the stars and other effects of nature would not be found unless all these things were governed and ordered by some intellect transcending the things ordered

Therefore after the majority of men asserted the opinion that natural things did not happen by chance but by providence because of the order which clearly appears in them a doubt emerged among most men about the acts of man as to whether human affairs evolved by chance or were governed by some kind of providence or a higher ordering This doubt was fed especially because there is no sure order apparent in human events For good things do not always befall the good nor evil things the wicked On the other hand evil things do not always befall the good nor good things the wicked but good and evil indifferently befall both the good and the wicked This fact then especially moved the hearts of men to hold the opinion that human affairs are not governed by divine providence Some said that human affairs proceed by chance except to the extent that they are ruled by human providence and counsel others attributed their outcome to a fatalism ruled by the heavens This idea causes a great deal of harm to mankind For if divine providence is denied no reverence or true fear of God will remain among men Each man can weigh well how great will be the propensity for vice and the lack of desire for virtue which follows from this idea For nothing so calls men back from evil things and induces them to good so much as the fear and love of God For this reason the first and foremost aim of those who had pursued wisdom inspired by the spirit of God for the instruction of others was to remove this opinion from the hearts of men So after the promulgation of the Law and the Prophets the Book of Job occupies first place in the order of Holy Scripture the books composed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for the instruction of men The whole intention of this book is directed to this to show that human affairs are ruled by divine providence using probable arguments The methodology used in this book is to demonstrate this proposition from the supposition that natural things are governed by divine providence The affliction of just men is what seems especially to

36

impugn divine providence in human affairs For although it seems irrational and contrary to providence at first glance that good things sometimes happen to evil men nevertheless this can be excused in one way or another by divine compassion But that the just are afflicted without cause seems to undermine totally the foundation of providence Thus the varied and grave afflictions of a specific just man called Job perfect in every virtue are proposed as a kind of theme for the question intended for discussion

Cf Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemporary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge London H G Bohn 1854-1890] II 7-12

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy1 and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (11)

It is then a pernicious doctrine and one for which no one should contend to establish a system in this world such as anarchy is in a city so that it should have no superintendent or regulator or judge by whom everything must be managed and governed (12) But the great Moses thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes and is not always in the same condition) has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description Since then this world is visible and the object of our external senses it follows of necessity that it must have been created on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation giving a very venerable account of God

1 This is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (emphasis added)

Cf Plinyrsquos Natural History Book II Ch V (Loeb Classical Library vol 1 tr H Rackham 1944) (excerpt)

Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all menrsquos voices Fortune alone is invoked

37

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

1 Ps xiii 12 Job xxii 143 Job xi 5-64 Ps xciii 7-115 Heb iv 136 ldquoThere is but one God not many gods We attribute to God the highest goodness and perfection and it is impossible that what is highest and absolutely perfect could be found in many If a being lack that which constitutes supreme perfection it is therefore imperfect and cannot have the nature of Godrdquo (ldquoRoman Catechismrdquo ldquoThe Creedrdquo First Article 7)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job Prologue (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) (excerpt)

PROLOGUE

Just as things which are generated naturally reach perfection from imperfection by small degrees so it is with men in their knowledge of the truth For in the beginning they attained a very limited understanding of the truth but later they gradually came to know the truth in fuller measure Because of this many erred in the beginning about the truth from an imper-fect knowledge Among these there were some who excluded divine providence and attributed everything to fortune and to chance Indeed the opinion of these first men was not correct because they held that the world was made by chance This is evident from the posi-tion of the ancient natural philosophers who admitted only the material cause Even some later men like Democritus and Empedocles attributed things to chance in most things But by a more profound diligence in their contemplation of the truth later philosophers showed by evident proofs and reasons that natural things are set in motion by providence For such a sure course in the motion of the heavens and the stars and other effects of nature would not be found unless all these things were governed and ordered by some intellect transcending the things ordered

Therefore after the majority of men asserted the opinion that natural things did not happen by chance but by providence because of the order which clearly appears in them a doubt emerged among most men about the acts of man as to whether human affairs evolved by chance or were governed by some kind of providence or a higher ordering This doubt was fed especially because there is no sure order apparent in human events For good things do not always befall the good nor evil things the wicked On the other hand evil things do not always befall the good nor good things the wicked but good and evil indifferently befall both the good and the wicked This fact then especially moved the hearts of men to hold the opinion that human affairs are not governed by divine providence Some said that human affairs proceed by chance except to the extent that they are ruled by human providence and counsel others attributed their outcome to a fatalism ruled by the heavens This idea causes a great deal of harm to mankind For if divine providence is denied no reverence or true fear of God will remain among men Each man can weigh well how great will be the propensity for vice and the lack of desire for virtue which follows from this idea For nothing so calls men back from evil things and induces them to good so much as the fear and love of God For this reason the first and foremost aim of those who had pursued wisdom inspired by the spirit of God for the instruction of others was to remove this opinion from the hearts of men So after the promulgation of the Law and the Prophets the Book of Job occupies first place in the order of Holy Scripture the books composed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit for the instruction of men The whole intention of this book is directed to this to show that human affairs are ruled by divine providence using probable arguments The methodology used in this book is to demonstrate this proposition from the supposition that natural things are governed by divine providence The affliction of just men is what seems especially to

36

impugn divine providence in human affairs For although it seems irrational and contrary to providence at first glance that good things sometimes happen to evil men nevertheless this can be excused in one way or another by divine compassion But that the just are afflicted without cause seems to undermine totally the foundation of providence Thus the varied and grave afflictions of a specific just man called Job perfect in every virtue are proposed as a kind of theme for the question intended for discussion

Cf Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemporary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge London H G Bohn 1854-1890] II 7-12

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy1 and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (11)

It is then a pernicious doctrine and one for which no one should contend to establish a system in this world such as anarchy is in a city so that it should have no superintendent or regulator or judge by whom everything must be managed and governed (12) But the great Moses thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes and is not always in the same condition) has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description Since then this world is visible and the object of our external senses it follows of necessity that it must have been created on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation giving a very venerable account of God

1 This is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (emphasis added)

Cf Plinyrsquos Natural History Book II Ch V (Loeb Classical Library vol 1 tr H Rackham 1944) (excerpt)

Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all menrsquos voices Fortune alone is invoked

37

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

impugn divine providence in human affairs For although it seems irrational and contrary to providence at first glance that good things sometimes happen to evil men nevertheless this can be excused in one way or another by divine compassion But that the just are afflicted without cause seems to undermine totally the foundation of providence Thus the varied and grave afflictions of a specific just man called Job perfect in every virtue are proposed as a kind of theme for the question intended for discussion

Cf Philo Judaeus ldquoOn the Creationrdquo (In The Works of Philo Judaeus The contemporary of Josephus translated from the Greek By Charles Duke Yonge London H G Bohn 1854-1890] II 7-12

II (7) For some men admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world have represented it as existing without any maker and eternal and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation (8) But Moses who had early reached the very summits of philosophy1 and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause and a passive subject and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed superior to virtue and superior to science superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own but having been set in motion and fashioned and endowed with life by the intellect became transformed into that most perfect work this world And those who describe it as being uncreated do without being aware of it cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety namely providence (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created for a father is anxious for the life of his children and a workman aims at the duration of his works and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them But with regard to that which has not been created there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it (11)

It is then a pernicious doctrine and one for which no one should contend to establish a system in this world such as anarchy is in a city so that it should have no superintendent or regulator or judge by whom everything must be managed and governed (12) But the great Moses thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes and is not always in the same condition) has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description Since then this world is visible and the object of our external senses it follows of necessity that it must have been created on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation giving a very venerable account of God

1 This is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (emphasis added)

Cf Plinyrsquos Natural History Book II Ch V (Loeb Classical Library vol 1 tr H Rackham 1944) (excerpt)

Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all menrsquos voices Fortune alone is invoked

37

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

and named alone accused alone impeached alone pondered alone applauded alone rebuked and visited with reproaches deemed volatile and indeed by most men blind as well wayward inconstant uncertain fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy To her is debited and that is spent and credited all that is received she alone fills both pages in the whole of mortalsrsquo account and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chance herself by whom God is proved uncertain takes the place of God Another set of people banishes fortune also and attributes events to its star and to the laws of birth holding that for all men that ever are to be Godrsquos decree has been enacted once for all while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed to Him This belief begins to take root and the learned and unlearned mob alike go marching on towards it at the double witness the warnings drawn from lightning the forecasts made by oracles the prophecies of augurs and even incon-siderable trifles ndash sneeze a stumble ndash counted as omens His late Majesty put abroad a story that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the army he had put his left boot on the wrong foot This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain ndash that nothing certain exists and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures their sole anxiety is for the means of life in which naturersquos bounty of itself suffices the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every other being the fact that they do not think about glory money ambition and above all death But it agrees with lifersquos experience to believe that in these matters the gods exercise an interest in human affairs and that punishment for wickedness though sometimes tardy as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things yet is never frustrated and that man was not born Godrsquos next of kin for the purpose of approximating to the beasts in vileness Put the chief consolations for naturersquos imperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all things possible ndash for he cannot even if he wishes commit suicide the supreme boon that he has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life nor bestow eternity on mortals or recall the deceased nor cause a man that has lived not to have lived or one that has held high office not to have held it ndash and that he has no power over what is past save to forget it and (to link our fellowship with God by means of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to be twenty or do many things on similar lines which facts unquestionably demonstrate the power of nature and prove that it is this that we mean by the word lsquoGodrsquo It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiry into the nature of God

11 On the earth as a womb of subterranean waters

Cf Job 388

8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth as though coming from a wombhellip

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Book of Job (tr Brian Mullady) (copy 1996-2009 Western Dominican Province) ch 38 Lesson 1

After the foundation of the earth he continues then speaking about the waters which are immediately placed over the land The natural order of the elements requires that water surrounds the earth at every point like air surrounds earth and water at every point But by divine disposition it has been effected for the generation of men animals and plants some part of the land remains uncovered by the waters as God holds back the waters of the sea within their certain limits by his power and so he says ldquoWho shut up the sea with doorsrdquo with determined limits There were some who thought the action of the sun dried up some part of the earth but the Lord shows that it has been disposed from the beginning that the sea does not cover the land everywhere He describes the production of the sea using the comparison of the birth of a living thing a child because water is especially apt to be

38

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

changed into living things This is why the seed of all things is moist The child first comes forth from the womb of its mother and he means this when he says ldquowhen it burst forth as though proceeding from the wombrdquo He uses the word ldquoto break forthrdquo because it is a property of water to move almost continually He says the sea proceeds ldquofrom the wombrdquo not because it has had its origin from other corporeal matter but because it proceeded from the hidden origin of divine providence as from the womb (emphasis added)

NB Literally the waters burst forth from the deep ldquoas Pharez broke out of his motherrsquos wombrdquo (Gen 3829) as John Gill puts it On this point cf Thomasrsquos Lesson 4 on 121

The Fourth Lecture Jobrsquos Submission

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped 21 He said Naked I came from my motherrsquos womb and naked I shall return there The Lord gave the Lord has taken away As God pleased so it has been done Blessed be the name of the Lord In all these things Job did not sin with his lips nor did he say anything foolish against God

hellipJob revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds but also by words For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness he did not have to yield to sadness First he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said ldquoHe said Naked I came forth from my motherrsquos wombrdquo namely from the earth which is the common mother of everything ldquoand naked shall I return thererdquo ie to the earth Sirach speaks in the same vein saying ldquoGreat hardship has been created for man and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their motherrsquos womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them allrdquo (401) This can also be interpreted in another way The expression ldquofrom my motherrsquos wombrdquo can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him When he says next ldquonaked I shall return thererdquo the term ldquothererdquo establishes a simple relation For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect namely in that he is removed from the company of men In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods since exterior goods are not connatural to him but come to him accidentally This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him (emphasis added)

That we should understand the womb of the earth here is also evident from the following considerations

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on Aristotlersquos Meteorology (tr Pierre Conway OP and FR Larcher OP [1964]) Book II lect 1 n 125

hellipHe says therefore first [122] that to some the same things seem to be true of the generation of rivers as was said of the generation of winds For they say that when water is raised aloft through evaporation and then re-descends it collects under the earth and thus flows on to generate springs and rivers It is as if they were understood to emerge from some ldquogreat wombrdquo ie from some large depth where a great amount of water is gathered (emphasis added)

39

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Clearly the waters of which the Lord speaks in Job 388 are fountains originating from the earth Cf Proverbs 822-31

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made any thing from the beginning 23 I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made 24 The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out 25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been estab-lished before the hills I was brought forth

26 He had not yet made the earth nor the rivers nor the poles of the world 27 When he prepared the heavens I was present when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths 28 When he established the sky above and poised the fountains of waters 29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits when be balanced the foundations of the earth 30 I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day playing before him at all times 31 Playing in the world and my delights were to be with the children of men (emphasis added)

The same conclusion is suggested by considering ldquothe fountains of the great deeprdquo of Gen-esis 7 and 8

Cf ldquoNoahrsquos Flood ndash Where did the water come fromrdquo1

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo are mentioned before the ldquowindows of heavenrdquo indicating either relative importance or the order of events What are the ldquofountains of the great deeprdquo This phrase is used only in Genesis 711 ldquoFountains of the deeprdquo is used in Genesis 82 where it clearly refers to the same thing and Proverbs 828 where the precise meaning is not clear ldquoThe great deeprdquo is used three other times Isaiah 5110 where it clearly refers to the ocean Amos 74 where Godrsquos fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep probably the oceans and Psalm 366 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of Godrsquos justicejudgment ldquoThe deeprdquo is used more often and usually refers to the oceans (eg Genesis 12 Job 3830 4132 Psalm 427 1046 Isaiah 5110 6313 Ezekiel 2619 Jonah 23) but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 314 15) The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ldquofountainsrdquo means ldquofountain spring wellrdquo[1]

[1] Strongrsquos Concordance

Cf Richard M Davidson ldquoBiblical Evidence for the Universality of the Genesis Floodrdquo2

Seventh Hasel devoted an entire scholarly article to the phrase ldquoall the fountains [mayenoth] of the Great Deep [tehocircm rabbah]rdquo (Genesis 711 82) and showed how it is linked with the universal ldquoDeeprdquo (tehocircm) or world-ocean in Genesis 12 (cf Psalm 1046 ldquoThou didst cover it [the earth] with [the] deep [tehocircm] as with a garment the waters were standing above the mountainsrdquo) The ldquobreaking uprdquo and ldquobursting forthrdquo (ie geological faulting) of not just one subterranean water spring in Mesopotamia but of all the ldquofountainsrdquo of the Great Deep coupled in the same verse with the opening of the windows of the heavens far transcends a local scene Hasel perceptively concludes that ldquothe bursting forth of the waters from the fountains of the lsquogreat deeprsquo refers to the splitting open of

1 (httpwwwchristiananswersnetq-aigaig-c010html [113009])2 (httpwwwgrisdaorgorigins22058htm [121706])

40

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

springs of subterranean waters with such might and force that together with the torrential downpouring of waters stored in the atmospheric heavens a worldwide flood comes aboutrdquo (Hasel 1974 [The fountains of the great deep Origins 167-72] p 71) Eighth in another article Hasel (1978) shows how the Hebrew Bible reserved a special term mabbucircl [= ldquofloodrdquo or ldquocataclysmrdquo] which in its 13 occurrences refers exclusively to the universal Genesis Flood (12 occurrences in Genesis once in Psalm 29 10) This word may be derived from the Hebrew root ybl ldquoto flow to streamrdquo The term mabbucircl which in the Flood narrative is usually associated with mayim ldquowatersrdquo seems to have become ldquoa technical term for waters flowing or streaming forth and as such designates the flood (deluge) being caused by waters mabbucircl is in the Old Testament a term consistently employed for the flood (deluge) which was caused by torrential rains and the bursting forth of subterranean watersrdquo (Hasel 1978 [Some issues regarding the nature and universality of the Genesis Flood narrative Origins 583-98] p 92-93) This technical term clearly sets the Genesis Deluge apart from all local floods and is utilized in the Psalm 2910 to illustrate Yahwehrsquos universal sovereignty over the world at the time of the Noahic Flood ldquoThe Lord sat enthroned at the Flood and the Lord sits as King foreverrdquo (emphasis added)

We conclude then that by the sea which burst forth as from a womb the Lord means us to understand the subterranean waters that afterward in Noahrsquos day He permitted to burst forth in the Deluge recognizing their source to be not ldquodivine providencerdquo as such (pace St Thomas although ultimately they derive therefrom) but rather ldquothe earth which is the common mother of everythingrdquo The primeval state of things then is this having brought into being the waters of the deep God restrained their chaotic force by His rebuke causing them to recede from the surface of the earth into their proper bounds where they will be held in check until the time of the Flood

12 On the interpretation of ldquothe deeprdquo

For the Hebrew conception and its Near-Eastern parallels cf ldquoDeep Therdquo Theodor H Gaster Encyclopedia Judaica (New York 1970)

DEEP THE The ancient Hebrews believed that the earth lay across an all-encompassing ocean which they called tehom The term is used in the Bible either for the primordial waters in toto (Gen 12) or for the upper or lower portion alone (cf Ps 428) Most fre-quently it denotes the latter and it is then conventionally rendered ldquothe deeprdquo The Canaanite myths from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) speak similarly of ldquothe two oceansrdquo (thmtm) ie the supernal and the infernal the dwelling of the supreme god El being located at their confluence ie on the horizon In the Babylonian Epic of Creation the primordial ocean is personified as the monstrous Tiamat who launches battle against the supreme god Anu but is eventually subdued by Marduk and slit lengthwise ldquolike an oysterrdquo the two parts of her body forming respectively the vault of heaven and the bedrock of the earth In the wake of Isaiah 271 post-biblical legend asserts that at the end of the world this monster will again break loose and again be defeated a notion which recurs in Iranian lore (Yashts 1938ndash44 Bundahi2n 299) and which also leaves traces both in the New Testament (Rev 201ndash3) and in the Talmud (BB 75a) The personification of the primordial ocean as a monster is further echoed in Genesis 4925 where Tehom is described as ldquocrouching belowrdquo like a beastRivers and springs were believed to emanate from the nether tehom (Targ Eccles 17 cf Weinsinck in bibl p 42) and the upsurging of it was partly responsible for the Deluge (Gen 711) Ecclesiastes 17 as interpreted by Targum and Rashi believes that after surging up from this nether tehom and flowing through streams into the sea the water finds its way back to the tehom through tunnels and then surges up again to the springs and repeats the cycle The rock on which the Temple was built at Jerusalem is said in later legend (Targ

41

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Jon Ex 2830) to have covered the mouth of the deep and the stairs connecting the two courts of the Temple were called popularly ldquothe stairs of Tehomrdquo (Targ Ps 120) Similarly the temple of Marduk at Babylon and that of E-ninu at Lagash rested reputedly on the nether ocean Related to this is the belief that the supreme god sits enthroned over the waters of the nether flood Thus in a Hittite myth the god who conquers the dragon Illuyankas is subsequently installed ldquoabove the wellrdquo while in the second century CE Lucian was shown a spot in the temple at Hierapolis into which the waters of the Deluge were said to have gathered This belief is possibly reflected in the words of Psalms 2910 ldquothe Lord sat enthroned over the floodrdquo (see Gaster in bibl pp 750ndash1 843ndash54 nos 25ndash31) It is related in the Talmud (Tarsquoan 25b) that the angel Rdy who is in charge of rain stands midway between the upper and lower oceans bidding the waters of the former to pour down and of the latter to rise In Ecclesiasticus 248 Wisdom is said to have walked primordially ldquoin the depth of the abyssrdquo and in Babylonian glossaries the name Apsu by which the freshwater abyss is called is fancifully etymologized as ab-zu ldquoabode of wisdomrdquo (E Dhorme Religion assyro-babylonienne (1910) 73) Comparable is the classical notion that Proteus the old man of the sea is omniscient while in ancient Mesopotamian folklore the seven sages (apkallK) who introduced civilization emerge from the deep (Gaster 324 no 31) Job 2812 14 seems however to protest against this idea while in Proverbs 824 Wisdom exists prior to the creation of the deep

For the theological and philosophical underpinnings of this notion with special reference to St Augustinersquos conception cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 69 art 1 c (excerpt) (tr English Dominican Fathers)

hellipThe formlessness of water which holds the middle place is called the ldquodeeprdquo because as Augustine says (Contr Faust xxii 11) this word signifies the mass of waters without order (emphasis added)

Cf Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei On the Power of God by Thomas Aquinas translated by the English Dominican Fathers (1952) q iv art ii c (excerpt)

The element of water lacked due order and distinction from the element of earth and this lack of form is designated by the word deep which signifies a certain inordinate im-mensity of the waters according to Augustine (Cont Faust xxii ii) (emphasis added)

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 68 art 3 sc c (excerpt) (tr English Domi-nican Fathers)

On the contrary It is written (Gn 16) ldquoLet there be a firmament made amidst the waters and let it divide the waters from the watersrdquo

I answer that The text of Genesis considered superficially might lead to the adoption of a theory similar to that held by certain philosophers of antiquity who taught that water was a body infinite in dimension and the primary element of all bodies Thus in the words ldquoDarkness was upon the face of the deeprdquo the word ldquodeeprdquo might be taken to mean the infinite mass of water understood as the principle of all other bodies These philosophers also taught that not all corporeal things are confined beneath the heaven perceived by our senses but that a body of water infinite in extent exists above that heaven On this view the firmament of heaven might be said to divide the waters without from those withinndash-that is to say from all bodies under the heaven since they took water to be the principle of them all (emphasis added)

42

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Commentary on the Sentences Book II (translated by Ralph McInerny In Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings Penguin 1998)

DISTINCTION 12

CREATION OF MATTER

ltgt

Article 5

Are the four coevals properly assigned

ltgt

Thomasrsquo Explanation of the Text of Peter Lombard

As Augustine says in Against the Manicheans ldquoWhat Moses calls by the name of earth because earth among all the elements of the world is the least beautifulrdquolsquo It should be known that according to Augustine who does not introduce the order of time into the distinction of things prime matter must be understood as wholly unformed as was said and thus it will be called by the name of water or earth by reason of similitude as it is called earth on account of the lack of form For earth has the least form of all the elements since it is the grossest element but water because of its receptibility to forms because the wet is receptive and terminable But it is called the abyss because it is incidentally evil as is said in Physics 1 for abyss is formed from a lsquowithoutrsquo and byssus which is the genus of the brightest line [read light] that is without light and this is incidental to matter because of privation

43

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Or it is called abyss as without basis of some great depth and of the deepest waters according to Augustine So too prime matter is called abyss insofar as it is deprived of form through which it receives substantive existence But according to other saints we can say that according to the text it was under the substantial form of earth or water (emphasis added)

For a related conception of matter cf Plato Timaeus 50 Emdash51 B (tr B Jowett)

Wherefore that which is to receive all forms should have no form as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain but begin by making [51] the surface as even and smooth as possible In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form Wherefore the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things is not to be termed earth or air or fire or water or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived but is an invisible and formless being which [b] receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible and is most income-prehensible

For the evidence furnished by a consideration of Thales of Miletus (620 ndash 546 BC) cf G S Kirk J E Raven and M Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge 1960 Second Edition) pp 92-95

The near-eastern origin of part of Thalesrsquo cosmology is indicated by his conception that the earth floats or rests on water In Egypt the earth was commonly conceived as a flat rimmed dish resting upon water which also filled the sky the sun sailed each day across the sky in a boat and also sailed under the earth each night (not round it as in the Greek legend eg 7) In the Babylonian creation-epic Apsu and Tiamat represent the primeval waters and Apsu remains as the waters under the earth after Marduk has split the body of Tiamat to form sky (with its waters) and earth In the story of Eridu (seventh century BC in its youngest extant version) in the beginning lsquoall land was searsquo then Marduk built a raft on the surface of the water and on the raft a reed-hut which became the earth

An analogous view is implied in the Psalms (where the Leviathan is an analogue of Tiamat) where Jahweh lsquostretched out the earth above the watersrsquo (136 6) lsquofounded it upon the seas and established it upon the floodsrsquo (24 2) Similarly Tehom is lsquothe deep that lieth underrsquo (Gen xlix 25) lsquothe deep that coucheth beneathrsquo (Deut xxxiii13)1

Against this profusion of parallel material from the east and south-east for the waters under the earth there is no comparable Greek evidence apart from Thales The naive Greek conception of a river Okeanos surrounding the earth (ch 1 sect2) is not strictly comparable (for it is clear that there is no Okeanos under the earth) although it was probably a much earlier development in a different direction of the widely-diffused near-eastern generic concept of the earth rising in the midst of the primeval waters ndash a concept almost certainly not native to the Greek-speaking peoples whose home before the migrations into the Greek peninsula lay far from the [92-93] sea Similarly although the isolated references in Iliad book xiv (8 and 9) to Okeanos as origin of all things were also probably based upon the same near-eastern concept from a slightly different aspect they contain no implication of the special idea that the earth floats on water and so are unlikely to have been the origin of Thalesrsquo assertion of this idea For any more general contention that the earth came from or is maintained by water Thales would no doubt be encouraged and gratified to have the apparently native Homeric precedents Thus Thalesrsquo view that the earth floats on water seems to have been

44

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

most probably based upon direct contact with near-eastern mythological cosmology We have already seen that he had associations both with Babylonia and with Egypt The idea that the earth actually floats upon water was more clearly and more widely held in the latter of these countries and the conjecture might hazarded that Thales was indebted to Egypt for this element of his world-picture2

1 These instances are cited by U Holscher in his convincing discussion of Thales Hermes 81 (1953) 385-91 Some of the material is treated in ch 1 especially pp 11ff For the idea of Nun the Egyptian primeval ocean supporting the earth see also the remarks of J A Wilson Before Philosophy 59ff and H Frankfort Ancient Egyptian Religion (NY 1948) 1142 Thales evidently used the floating-earth idea to explain earthquakes

The cosmological scope of the idea is however limited and it seems reasonable to conclude from Aristotlersquos information in 85 that Thales also thought that the world originated in water since this is implicit in the near-eastern mythologies and is stated in the Homeric Okeanos-passages which are thought to be based on those mythologies Thales may have rationalized the idea from a Greek mythological form like the Homeric one he may also have been directly influenced (as he seems to have been for the special detail that the earth floats on water) by foreign perhaps Egytian versionshellip (emphasis added)

Cf Sir Thomas L Heath Greek Astronomy (London 1931) Introduction pp xx-xxi

Thalesrsquo theory of the universe was this According to him the one ldquofirst principlerdquo (as Aristotle calls it) or material cause of all things is water earth is the result of condensation of water air is produced from water by rarefaction and air again when heated becomes fire We may assume therefore that in Thalesrsquo view there was in the beginning only the pri-mordial mass of water and from this other things were gradually differentiated Thales said that the earth floats on the water like a log or a cork he would therefore presumably regard it as a flat disc or short cylinder Simplicius the commentator on Aristotle con-jectures that Thales derived his ideas from myths current in Egypt Paul Tannery pointed out the similarity between Thalesrsquo view of the world and that contained in ancient Egyptian papyri According to these there existed in the beginning the Nu a primordial liquid mass in the limitless depths of which floated the germ of all things When the sun began to shine the earth was flattened out and the waters separated into two masses The one gave rise to the rivers and the ocean the other suspended above formed the vault of heaven the waters above on which the stars and the gods borne by an eternal current began to float The sun standing upright in his sacred bark which had endured for millions of years glides slowly conducted by an army of secondary gods the planets and the stars We may compare also the first chapter of Genesis verses 6 to 10 ldquoAnd God 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 [xx-xxi] which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so And God called the firmament Heaven And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seasrdquo The Babylonian account of creation contains apparently the same idea of the primordial watery chaos being cleft into two parts the chaos however being personified as a monster which Marduk the supreme God of Babylon cleaves in twain with his scimitar So far therefore as his views on the universe are concerned Thales was not greatly in advance of the Egyptians the Hebrews and the Babylonians (emphasis added)

45

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Cf WKC Guthrie History of Early Greek Philosophy Vol 1 (Cambridge 1962) Sum-mary of an Egyptian creation myth (c 2500 BC) p 59

The earth itself had arisen out of Nucircn the primordial waters which are still everywhere beneath itmdashas Thales saidmdashand also surrounding it like the Homeric Oceanus1 At first the waters covered everything but gradually sank until a small hillock appeared on this hillock the creator god made his first appearance

For more on the last point made by Heath cf Arnold M Katz ldquoEmergence of Scientific Explanations of Nature in Ancient Greece The Only Scientific Discoveryrdquo (Circulation 1995 92637-645)

The discovery of natural science by the early Greek philosophers did not represent a revolutionary change in our view of the world but instead emerged through an evolutionary process in which a remarkable school of presocratic philosophers building on the highly developed but practically oriented technology and mathematics of Babylon and Egypt sought to understand nature by modifying an older paradigm that of mythology Of these early philosophers FM Cornford observes

there is a real continuity between the earliest rational speculation and the religious representation that lay behind it and this is no matter of superficial analogies Religion expresses itself in poetical symbols and in terms of mythical personalities philosophy prefers the language of dry abstraction and speaks of substance cause matter and so forth But the outward difference only disguises an inward and substantial affinity between these two successive pro-ducts of the same consciousness The modes of thought that attain to clear definition and explicit statement in philosophy were already implicit in the unreasoned intuitions of mythology10 The transition from myth to science therefore represented not so much the appearance of a new rational approach to the understanding of nature as the discarding of mythical personifications of natural phenomena

The shift in perspective from mythology to science that occurred 2600 years ago in Greece was localized and limited DC Lindberg says of the appearance of Greek philosophy

This was not as some have portrayed it the replacement of mythology by philosophy for Greek mythology did not disappear but continued to flourish for centuries Rather it was the appearance of new philosophical modes of thought alongside or sometimes mingled with mythology 11

In fact belief in the gods and in magic continued to be dominant in Western culture long after the Greek world had ceased to exist as a political and social entity

10 Cornford F M From Religion to Philosophy A Study of the Origins of Western Specu-lation New York NY Harper amp Bros Publishers 1957v 11 Lindberg D C The Beginnings of Western Science Chicago Ill University of Chicago Press 199225 (emphasis added)

1 Cf Homer Iliad XIV 200-203 (translator not given in my source text)

For I am faring to visit the limits of all-nurturing earth and Oceanus from whom the gods are sprung and Mother Tethys even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me

46

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

13 On ldquoimpressing vital powerrdquo the Spirit of God moving over the waters

Cf the comparison with the hen brooding on her eggs

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

Reply to Objection 4 Rabbi Moses (Perplex ii) understands by the ldquoSpirit of the Lordrdquo 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 ldquomove over the waterrdquondash-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 ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo 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 Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

Cf ldquoThe Bible Genesis 1rdquo Institute for Biblical amp Scientific Studies1

And a Mighty Wind

Hebrew TextMyhla jwrw - and a mighty wind lthellipgt

Basil follows the LXX saying the earth was invisible for which he gives two reasons First the earth was submerged under water and therefore could not be seen Second light had not been created so the earth lying in darkness could not be seen Darkness was unlighted air (1963 22) He views a literal earth that was created but submerged contrary to Ambrose Basil sees the Holy Spirit of God stirring above the waters with warm and fostering care like a bird brooding over its eggs (Ibid 31)

Cf ibid

Was Blowing Upon the Surface of the Waters

Hebrew Text mymh ynp-lu tpjrm - was blowing upon the surface of the waters

Hebrew participle tpjrm indicates continuous action The root word pjr occurs only two other times in the OT (Deut 3211 and Jer 239)

1 (httpwwwbibleandsciencecombiblebooksgenesisgenesis1htm [91608])

47

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

Deuteronomy 3211 says ldquolike an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers (pjr) over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinionsrdquo (NIV) There is some debate whether pjr means brooding hovering soaring or violent flapping in this verse This is the same verb form as in Genesis 12 and both are describing the creative activity of the spirit Some have suggested that the spirit is like a bird brooding over the world egg from which the earth hatched Gaster sees here the ancient idea of the wind-bird where the wind is described as a bird-god (1969 5) The wind in the OT is sometimes described as having wings (2 Sam 2211 Psa 1811 1043 Hos 419)

Jeremiah 239 says ldquoMy heart is broken within me all my bones tremble I am like a drunken man like a man overcome by winerdquo (NIV) Here pjr clearly means shake or tremble Stadelmann concludes ldquoThe meaning of the verb rhp is the same in three places in which it occurs and it indicates in all cases violent not gentle motionrdquo (1970 15) (emphasis added)

Cf Adam Clarke The Holy Bible Containing the Old and the New Testaments (New York 1811) on Gen 12

Moved] [Hebrew omitted] merachepheth was brooding over for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters As the idea of incubation or hatching an egg is implied in the original word hence probably the notion which prevailed among the ancients that the world was generated from an egg

Consider also the following

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 12

and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters which covered the earth Ps 1046 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower and the waters being lighter rose up above the others hence Thales q the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things as do the Indian Brahmans r and Aristotle s himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe and observes that it was not only the opinion of Thales but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived and of those that first wrote on divine things and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus or the ocean with Tethys to be the parents of generation and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water and consisting of it 2Pe 35

and upon the surface of these waters before they were drained off the earth ldquothe Spirit of God movedrdquo which is to be understood not of a wind as Onkelos Aben Ezra and many Jewish writers as well as Christians interpret it since the air which the wind is a motion of was not made until the second day The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah as many Jewish writers t call him that is the third Person in the blessed Trinity who was concerned in the creation of all things as in the garnishing of the heavens so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order see Job 2613

This same Spirit ldquomovedrdquo or brooded u upon the face of the waters to impregnate them as an hen upon eggs to hatch them so he to separate the parts which were mixed together

48

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet w

Some traces of this appear in the nous or mind of Anaxagoras which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order x and the ldquomensrdquo of Thales he calls God which formed all things out of water y and the ldquospiritus intus alitrdquo ampc of Virgil and with this agrees what Hermes says that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep and water and a small intelligent spirit endued with a divine power were in the chaos z and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg or egg of Orpheus a or the firstborn or first laid egg out of which all things were formed and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians and they perhaps from the Jews and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph out of whose mouth went forth an egg which they interpreted of the world b and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians which were heavenly birds were according to Sanchoniatho c of the form of an egg and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg as being an image of the world as Macrobius d says and therefore he thought the question whether an hen or an egg was oldest was of some moment and deserved consideration

and the Chinese say e that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg the shell of which formed the heavens the white the air and the yolk the earth and to this incubation of the spirit or wind as some would have it is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes f

(Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2 Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age about which the scriptures say nothing Some great catastrophe took place which left the earth ldquowithout form and voidrdquo or ruined in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required g This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible However the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages were mainly laid down by Noahrsquos flood In Ex 2011 we read of a literal six day creation No gaps not even for one minute otherwise these would not be six normal days Also in Ro 512 we read that death is the result of Adamrsquos sin Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale they could not have existed before the fall of Adam There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years However we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent See Topic 8756 Ed)

q Laert in Vita Thaletis p 18 Cicero do Natura Deorum l 1 r Strabo Geograph l 15 p 491 s Metaphysic l 1 c 3 t Zohar in Gen fol 107 3 and fol 128 3 Bereshit Rabba fol 2 4 and 6 3 Vajikra Rabba sect 14 fol 156 4 Baal Hatturim in loc Caphtor Uperah fol 113 2 u tpxrm ldquoincubabatrdquo Junius Tremellius Piscator ldquoas a dove on her youngrdquo T Bab Chagigah fol 15 1 w ----and with mighty wings outspread Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss And madrsquost it pregnant---- Miltonrsquos Paradise Lost B 1 l 20 21 22 The same sentiment is in B 7 l 234 235 x Laert in Vita Anaxagor p 91 Euseb Evangel Praepar l 10 c 14 p 504 y Cicero de Nat Deorum l 1 Lactant de falsa Relig l 1 c 5 z Apud Drusium in loc a Hymn protogon ver 1 2 b Euseb Praepar Evangel l 3 c 11 p 115 c Apud Ib l 2 c 10 p 33 d Saturnal l 7 c 16 e Martin Sinic Hist l 1 p 3 4 f In Avibus g Ian Taylor p 363 364 ldquoIn the Minds of Menrdquo 1984 TEF Publishing PO Box 5015 Stn F Toronto Canada (emphasis added)

Cf idem on Genesis 124

Ver 24 And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself without the interposition of God for

49

though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God which moved on it whilst a fluid and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day and of the sun on the fourth yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word that these creatures were produced of the earth and formed into their several shapes The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair according to the Egyptians whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus c seems to give us the process was thus carried on the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase and the membranes burnt and burst creatures of all kinds appeared of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards and became flying fowl those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles and other terrestrial animals and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature ran to the place of a like kind and were called swimmers or fish

This is the account they give and somewhat like is that which Archelaus the master of Socrates delivers as his notion that animals were produced out of slime through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food d and Zeno the Stoic says e the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth the thinner part the air and that still more subtilized the fire and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals and all the other kinds but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God

lthellipgt

c Bibliothec l 1 p 7 d Laert in Vita Archelai p 99 e Ib in Vita Zenonis p 524 (emphasis added)

Cf Matthew Henry An Exposition With Practical Observations of The First Book of Moses Called Genesis (1706) Chapter 1

Gen 11-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo

I In its epitome v 1 where we find to our comfort the first article of our creed that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth and as such we believe in him

lthellipgt

II Here is the work of creation in its embryo v 2 where we have an account of the first matter and the first mover

1 A chaos was the first matter It is here called the earth (though the earth properly taken was not made till the third day v 10) because it did most resemble that which afterwards was called earth mere earth destitute of its ornaments such a heavy unwieldy mass was it it is also called the deep both for its vastness and because the waters which were afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it This immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies even the firmament and visible heavens themselves were afterwards produced by the power of the Eternal Word The Creator could have made his work perfect

50

at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

14 The comparison with the hen

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

It is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquid

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

51

Also the life of the soul is given by the water of baptism according to Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

In sum the Spirit of God moving over the waters resembles the hen brooding over her chicks impressing its vital power thereon Accordingly the waters themselves are like the seed of an animal

15 Godrsquos word and will in creation

In the Work of the Six Days Godrsquos word is indicated by the words ldquoAnd God said let there berdquo etc but His will by the words ldquoAnd the Spirit of God moved over the (face of the) watersrdquo

For an Egyptian parallel cf ldquoAncient Egyptian Creation Mythologyrdquo1

Abstract The Polemical Background Of Biblical Genesis 1-2 by Dr Gordon Johnston Introduction (excerpt)

Creation Mythology of Memphis Creation by the Spoken Word of Ptah

The third major cult center in ancient Egypt was at Memphis a site in Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta The chief source for the content of the creation mythology of Memphis is the Shabaka Stone erected under the Nubian king Shabaka (712-698 BCE) of Dynasty 25 This text known as the ldquoMemphite Theologyrdquo claims to be a copy of an ancient worm-eaten papyrus scroll reflecting the ancient traditions of Memphis12 The Memphite Theology reiterates the basic mythology of Heliopolis13 However its most distinctive feature is creationattributed to a combination of the conception in the heart (volitional will) and spoken command of the tongue (divine word) by the creator god (emphasis added)

[footnotes omitted]

Cf idem2

A Brief Survey of Scholarship Genesis 1-2 as Polemic Against Egyptian Creation Mythologies

Dr Gordon Johnston

Parallels Suggested by James K Hoffmeier28

ltgt

[3] In the Memphite Theology the creator god brings about creation by combination of the conception in his heart and the command of his tongue that is creation by the spoken word Throughout Genesis 1 God brings about creation by the power of His divine command ldquoLet there be helliprdquo Hoffmeier also notes the concept of creation by divine command is not found in Babylonian creation accounts32

1 (httpeedincomShowArticleaspxID=83ampAspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 [11908])2 Idem

52

28 James K Hoffmeier ldquoSome Thoughts on Genesis 1-2 and Egyptian Cosmologyrdquo Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983) 32-48

ltgt

32 Hoffmeier 42 (emphasis added)

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 13

Ver 3 And God said This phrase is used nine times in this account of the creation it is admired by Longinus the Heathen in his treatise ldquoof the Sublimerdquo as a noble instance of it and it is most beautifully paraphrased and explained in Ps 336 as expressive of the will power authority and efficacy of the divine Being whose word is clothed with power and who can do and does whatever he will and as soon as he pleases his orders are always obeyed Perhaps the divine Person speaking here is the Logos or Word of God which was in the beginning with God and was God and who himself is the light that lightens every creature

Godrsquos acts

creation separation or division adornment

speaking His word

16 Principal conclusion

If the Spirit of God corresponds to the seed of the male then the material creation must correspond to the seed of the female Now we have already seen that the informing of the heavens by light corresponds to the formation of the animalrsquos heart its first principal part But if so the form received by the world necessarily corresponds to the substantial form of a living thing which is its soul But this conclusion brings us to the point of considering the resemblance between the world and a living thing A principle cannot be fecundating unless it acts in virtue of its subjectrsquos substantial form It therefore follows that the form imparted to the world must be like a soul Since nothing can generate its like without being perfect as a result of receiving its first form the world must be perfect But the immediate principle of the appearance of life must be a created cause like the sun the moon and the stars Once we recognize that the Spirit of God corresponds to the spirit enclosed in the seed of the male we note the following

in Aristotlersquos understanding of animal generation the seed of the male is composed of pneuma and water

but the first thing produced in being is the first principle part understood to be the heart

but we have already seen how the heavens informed by light corresponds to the heart of an animal

therefore the first work of distinction is seen to correspond to the first stage in the generation of an animal

53

sect

The Opening of Genesis Part III

And the Spirit of God moved over the waters

(c) 2013 Bart A Mazzetti All rights reserved

54

at first but by this gradual proceeding he would show what is ordinarily the method of his providence and grace Observe the description of this chaos

(1) There was nothing in it desirable to be seen for it was without form and void Toho and Bohu confusion and emptiness so these words are rendered Isa 3411 It was shapeless it was useless it was without inhabitants without ornaments the shadow or rough draught of things to come and not the image of the things Heb 101 The earth is almost reduced to the same condition again by the sin of man under which the creation groans See Jer 423 I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void To those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world in comparison with that upper still appears to be nothing but confusion and emptiness There is no true beauty to be seen no satisfying fulness to be enjoyed in this earth but in God only (2) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen yet there was no light to see it by for darkness thick darkness was upon the face of the deep God did not create this darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction Isa 457) for it was only the want of light which yet could not be said to be wanted till something was made that might be seen by it nor needs the want of it be much complained of when there was nothing to be seen but confusion and emptiness If the work of grace in the soul is a new creation this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate graceless soul there is disorder confusion and every evil work it is empty of all good for it is without God it is dark it is darkness itself This is our condition by nature till almighty grace effects a blessed change

2 The Spirit of God was the first mover He moved upon the face of the waters When we consider the earth without form and void methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones Can these live1 Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world Yes if a spirit of life from God enter into it Eze 379 Now there is hope concerning this thing for the Spirit of God begins to work and if he work who or what shall hinder God is said to make the world by his Spirit Ps 336 Job 2613 and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected He moved upon the face of the deep as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead childmdashas the hen gathers her chickens under her wings and hovers over them to warm and cherish them Mt 2337mdashas the eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young (it is the same world that is here used) Deu 3211 Learn hence That God is not only the author of all being but the fountain of life and spring of motion Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time can at the end of time bring our vile bodies out of the grave though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself and without any order (Job 1022) and can make them glorious bodies

14 The comparison with the hen

Cf St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol Ia q 74 art 3 ad 4 (tr English Dominican Fathers)

It is the opinion however of Basil (Hom ii in Hexaem) that the Spirit moved over the element of water ldquofostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power as the hen broods over her chickensrdquo For water has especially a life-giving power since many animals are generated in water and the seed of all animals is liquid

1 Cp Eccl 115 ldquoAs thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child so thou knowest not the works of God who is the maker of allrdquo

51

Also the life of the soul is given by the water of baptism according to Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

In sum the Spirit of God moving over the waters resembles the hen brooding over her chicks impressing its vital power thereon Accordingly the waters themselves are like the seed of an animal

15 Godrsquos word and will in creation

In the Work of the Six Days Godrsquos word is indicated by the words ldquoAnd God said let there berdquo etc but His will by the words ldquoAnd the Spirit of God moved over the (face of the) watersrdquo

For an Egyptian parallel cf ldquoAncient Egyptian Creation Mythologyrdquo1

Abstract The Polemical Background Of Biblical Genesis 1-2 by Dr Gordon Johnston Introduction (excerpt)

Creation Mythology of Memphis Creation by the Spoken Word of Ptah

The third major cult center in ancient Egypt was at Memphis a site in Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta The chief source for the content of the creation mythology of Memphis is the Shabaka Stone erected under the Nubian king Shabaka (712-698 BCE) of Dynasty 25 This text known as the ldquoMemphite Theologyrdquo claims to be a copy of an ancient worm-eaten papyrus scroll reflecting the ancient traditions of Memphis12 The Memphite Theology reiterates the basic mythology of Heliopolis13 However its most distinctive feature is creationattributed to a combination of the conception in the heart (volitional will) and spoken command of the tongue (divine word) by the creator god (emphasis added)

[footnotes omitted]

Cf idem2

A Brief Survey of Scholarship Genesis 1-2 as Polemic Against Egyptian Creation Mythologies

Dr Gordon Johnston

Parallels Suggested by James K Hoffmeier28

ltgt

[3] In the Memphite Theology the creator god brings about creation by combination of the conception in his heart and the command of his tongue that is creation by the spoken word Throughout Genesis 1 God brings about creation by the power of His divine command ldquoLet there be helliprdquo Hoffmeier also notes the concept of creation by divine command is not found in Babylonian creation accounts32

1 (httpeedincomShowArticleaspxID=83ampAspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 [11908])2 Idem

52

28 James K Hoffmeier ldquoSome Thoughts on Genesis 1-2 and Egyptian Cosmologyrdquo Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983) 32-48

ltgt

32 Hoffmeier 42 (emphasis added)

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 13

Ver 3 And God said This phrase is used nine times in this account of the creation it is admired by Longinus the Heathen in his treatise ldquoof the Sublimerdquo as a noble instance of it and it is most beautifully paraphrased and explained in Ps 336 as expressive of the will power authority and efficacy of the divine Being whose word is clothed with power and who can do and does whatever he will and as soon as he pleases his orders are always obeyed Perhaps the divine Person speaking here is the Logos or Word of God which was in the beginning with God and was God and who himself is the light that lightens every creature

Godrsquos acts

creation separation or division adornment

speaking His word

16 Principal conclusion

If the Spirit of God corresponds to the seed of the male then the material creation must correspond to the seed of the female Now we have already seen that the informing of the heavens by light corresponds to the formation of the animalrsquos heart its first principal part But if so the form received by the world necessarily corresponds to the substantial form of a living thing which is its soul But this conclusion brings us to the point of considering the resemblance between the world and a living thing A principle cannot be fecundating unless it acts in virtue of its subjectrsquos substantial form It therefore follows that the form imparted to the world must be like a soul Since nothing can generate its like without being perfect as a result of receiving its first form the world must be perfect But the immediate principle of the appearance of life must be a created cause like the sun the moon and the stars Once we recognize that the Spirit of God corresponds to the spirit enclosed in the seed of the male we note the following

in Aristotlersquos understanding of animal generation the seed of the male is composed of pneuma and water

but the first thing produced in being is the first principle part understood to be the heart

but we have already seen how the heavens informed by light corresponds to the heart of an animal

therefore the first work of distinction is seen to correspond to the first stage in the generation of an animal

53

sect

The Opening of Genesis Part III

And the Spirit of God moved over the waters

(c) 2013 Bart A Mazzetti All rights reserved

54

Also the life of the soul is given by the water of baptism according to Jn 35 ldquoUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of Godrdquo (emphasis added)

In sum the Spirit of God moving over the waters resembles the hen brooding over her chicks impressing its vital power thereon Accordingly the waters themselves are like the seed of an animal

15 Godrsquos word and will in creation

In the Work of the Six Days Godrsquos word is indicated by the words ldquoAnd God said let there berdquo etc but His will by the words ldquoAnd the Spirit of God moved over the (face of the) watersrdquo

For an Egyptian parallel cf ldquoAncient Egyptian Creation Mythologyrdquo1

Abstract The Polemical Background Of Biblical Genesis 1-2 by Dr Gordon Johnston Introduction (excerpt)

Creation Mythology of Memphis Creation by the Spoken Word of Ptah

The third major cult center in ancient Egypt was at Memphis a site in Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta The chief source for the content of the creation mythology of Memphis is the Shabaka Stone erected under the Nubian king Shabaka (712-698 BCE) of Dynasty 25 This text known as the ldquoMemphite Theologyrdquo claims to be a copy of an ancient worm-eaten papyrus scroll reflecting the ancient traditions of Memphis12 The Memphite Theology reiterates the basic mythology of Heliopolis13 However its most distinctive feature is creationattributed to a combination of the conception in the heart (volitional will) and spoken command of the tongue (divine word) by the creator god (emphasis added)

[footnotes omitted]

Cf idem2

A Brief Survey of Scholarship Genesis 1-2 as Polemic Against Egyptian Creation Mythologies

Dr Gordon Johnston

Parallels Suggested by James K Hoffmeier28

ltgt

[3] In the Memphite Theology the creator god brings about creation by combination of the conception in his heart and the command of his tongue that is creation by the spoken word Throughout Genesis 1 God brings about creation by the power of His divine command ldquoLet there be helliprdquo Hoffmeier also notes the concept of creation by divine command is not found in Babylonian creation accounts32

1 (httpeedincomShowArticleaspxID=83ampAspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 [11908])2 Idem

52

28 James K Hoffmeier ldquoSome Thoughts on Genesis 1-2 and Egyptian Cosmologyrdquo Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983) 32-48

ltgt

32 Hoffmeier 42 (emphasis added)

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 13

Ver 3 And God said This phrase is used nine times in this account of the creation it is admired by Longinus the Heathen in his treatise ldquoof the Sublimerdquo as a noble instance of it and it is most beautifully paraphrased and explained in Ps 336 as expressive of the will power authority and efficacy of the divine Being whose word is clothed with power and who can do and does whatever he will and as soon as he pleases his orders are always obeyed Perhaps the divine Person speaking here is the Logos or Word of God which was in the beginning with God and was God and who himself is the light that lightens every creature

Godrsquos acts

creation separation or division adornment

speaking His word

16 Principal conclusion

If the Spirit of God corresponds to the seed of the male then the material creation must correspond to the seed of the female Now we have already seen that the informing of the heavens by light corresponds to the formation of the animalrsquos heart its first principal part But if so the form received by the world necessarily corresponds to the substantial form of a living thing which is its soul But this conclusion brings us to the point of considering the resemblance between the world and a living thing A principle cannot be fecundating unless it acts in virtue of its subjectrsquos substantial form It therefore follows that the form imparted to the world must be like a soul Since nothing can generate its like without being perfect as a result of receiving its first form the world must be perfect But the immediate principle of the appearance of life must be a created cause like the sun the moon and the stars Once we recognize that the Spirit of God corresponds to the spirit enclosed in the seed of the male we note the following

in Aristotlersquos understanding of animal generation the seed of the male is composed of pneuma and water

but the first thing produced in being is the first principle part understood to be the heart

but we have already seen how the heavens informed by light corresponds to the heart of an animal

therefore the first work of distinction is seen to correspond to the first stage in the generation of an animal

53

sect

The Opening of Genesis Part III

And the Spirit of God moved over the waters

(c) 2013 Bart A Mazzetti All rights reserved

54

28 James K Hoffmeier ldquoSome Thoughts on Genesis 1-2 and Egyptian Cosmologyrdquo Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983) 32-48

ltgt

32 Hoffmeier 42 (emphasis added)

Cf John Gillrsquos Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748) on Genesis 13

Ver 3 And God said This phrase is used nine times in this account of the creation it is admired by Longinus the Heathen in his treatise ldquoof the Sublimerdquo as a noble instance of it and it is most beautifully paraphrased and explained in Ps 336 as expressive of the will power authority and efficacy of the divine Being whose word is clothed with power and who can do and does whatever he will and as soon as he pleases his orders are always obeyed Perhaps the divine Person speaking here is the Logos or Word of God which was in the beginning with God and was God and who himself is the light that lightens every creature

Godrsquos acts

creation separation or division adornment

speaking His word

16 Principal conclusion

If the Spirit of God corresponds to the seed of the male then the material creation must correspond to the seed of the female Now we have already seen that the informing of the heavens by light corresponds to the formation of the animalrsquos heart its first principal part But if so the form received by the world necessarily corresponds to the substantial form of a living thing which is its soul But this conclusion brings us to the point of considering the resemblance between the world and a living thing A principle cannot be fecundating unless it acts in virtue of its subjectrsquos substantial form It therefore follows that the form imparted to the world must be like a soul Since nothing can generate its like without being perfect as a result of receiving its first form the world must be perfect But the immediate principle of the appearance of life must be a created cause like the sun the moon and the stars Once we recognize that the Spirit of God corresponds to the spirit enclosed in the seed of the male we note the following

in Aristotlersquos understanding of animal generation the seed of the male is composed of pneuma and water

but the first thing produced in being is the first principle part understood to be the heart

but we have already seen how the heavens informed by light corresponds to the heart of an animal

therefore the first work of distinction is seen to correspond to the first stage in the generation of an animal

53

sect

The Opening of Genesis Part III

And the Spirit of God moved over the waters

(c) 2013 Bart A Mazzetti All rights reserved

54

sect

The Opening of Genesis Part III

And the Spirit of God moved over the waters

(c) 2013 Bart A Mazzetti All rights reserved

54