HE
CONTINUES HIS EXPLANATION OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS
ACCORDING TO THE SEPTUAGINT, AND BY ITS ASSISTANCE HE ARGUES,
ESPECIALLY, CONCERNING THE DOUBLE HEAVEN, AND THE FORMLESS MATTER
OUT OF WHICH THE WHOLE WORLD MAY HAVE BEEN CREATED; AFTERWARDS OF
THE INTERPRETATIONS OF OTHERS NOT DISALLOWED, AND SETS FORTH AT
GREAT LENGTH THE SENSE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE.
CHAP. I. THE DISCOVERY OF TRUTH IS DIFFICULT, BUT GOD HAS PROMISED THAT
HE WHO SEEKS SHALL FIND.
1. My heart, O Lord, affected by the words of Thy Holy
Scripture, is much busied in this poverty of my life; and
therefore, for the most part, is the want of human intelligence
copious in language, because inquiry speaks more than discovery,
and because demanding is longer than obtaining, and the hand that
knocks is more active than the hand that receives. We hold the
promise; who shall break it ? "If God be for us, who can be
against us ?"(1) "Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that
asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened."(2) These are Thine own promises;
and who need fear to be deceived where the Truth promiseth ?
CHAP. II. OF THE DOUBLE
HEAVEN, THE VISIBLE, AND THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS.
2.
The weakness of my tongue confesseth unto Thy Highness, seeing
that Thou madest heaven and earth. This heaven which I see, and
this earth upon which I tread (from which is this earth that I
carry about me), Thou hast made. But where is Chat heaven of
heavens, O Lord, of which we hear in the words of the Psalm, The
heaven of heavens are the Lord's, I but the earth hath He given
to the children of men?(4) Where is the heaven, which we behold
not, in comparison of which all this, which we behold, is earth ?
For this corporeal whole, not as a whole everywhere, hath thus
received its beautiful figure in these lower parts, of which the
bottom is our earth; but compared with that heaven of heavens,
even the heaven of our earth is but earth; yea, each of these
great bodies is not absurdly called earth, as compared with that,
I know not what manner of heaven, which is the Lord's, not the
sons of men.
CHAP. III. OF THE DARKNESS
UPON THE DEEP, AND OF THE INVISIBLE AND FORMLESS EARTH.
3. And truly this earth was invisible and formless, (5) and
there was I know not what profundity of the deep upon which there
was no light, because it had no form. Therefore didst Thou
command that it should be written, that darkness was upon the
face of the deep; what else was it than the absence of light ?
(7) For had there been light, where should it have been save by
being above all, showing itself aloft, and enlightening ? Where,
therefore, light was as yet not, why was it that darkness was
present, unless because light was absent? Darkness therefore was
upon it, because the light above was absent; as silence is there
present where sound is not. And what is it to have silence
there, but not to have sound there ? Hast not Thou, O Lord,
taught this soul which confesseth unto Thee ? Hast not Thou
taught me, O Lord, that before Thou didst form and separate this
formless matter, there was nothing, neither colour, nor figure,
nor body, nor spirit ? Yet not altogether nothing; there was a
certain formlessness without any shape.
CHAP. IV. FROM THE
FORMLESSNESS OF MATTER, THE BEAUTIFUL WORLD HAS ARISEN.
4. What, then, should it be called, that even in some ways
it might be conveyed to those of duller mind, save by some
conventional word ? But what, in all parts of the world, can be
found nearer to a total formlessness than the earth and ! the
deep ? For, from their being of the lowest position, they are
less beautiful than are the other higher parts, all transparent
and shining. Why, therefore, may I not consider the formlessness
of matter which Thou hadst created without shape, whereof to
make this shapely world to be fittingly intimated unto men by
the name of earth invisible and formless ?
CHAP. V. WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN
THE FORM OF MATTER.
5. So that when herein thought
seeketh what the sense may arrive at, and saith to itself, "It is
no intelligible form, such as life or justice, because it is the
matter of bodies; nor perceptible by the senses, because in the
invisible and formless there is nothing which can be seen and
felt ; while human thought saith these things to itself, it may
endeavour either to know it by being ignorant, or by knowing it
to be ignorant.
CHAP. VI. HE CONFESSES THAT
AT ONE TIME HE HIMSELF THOUGHT ERRONEOUSLY OF MATTER.
6. But were I, O Lord, by my mouth and by my pen to confess
unto Thee the whole, whatever Thou hast taught me concerning that
matter, the name of which hearing beforehand, and not
understanding (they who could not understand it telling me of
it), I conceived (1) it as having innumerable and varied forms.
And therefore did I not conceive it; my mind revolved in
disturbed order foul and horrible "forms," but yet "forms;" and I
called it formless, not that it lacked form, but because it had
such as, did it appear, my mind would turn from, as unwonted and
incongruous, and at which human weakness would be disturbed. But
even that which I did conceive was formless, not by the privation
of all form, but in comparison of more beautiful forms; and true
reason persuaded me that I ought altogether to remove from it all
remnants of any form whatever, if I wished to conceive matter
wholly without form; and I could not. For sooner could I imagine
that that which should be deprived of all form was not at all,
than conceive anything between form and nothing, neither formed,
nor nothing, formless, nearly nothing. And my mind hence ceased
to question my spirit, filled (as it was) with the images of
formed bodies, and changing and varying them according to its
will; and I applied myself to the bodies themselves, and looked
more deeply into their mutability, by which the. y cease to be
what they had. been, and begin to be what they were not; and
this same transit from form unto form I have looked upon to be
through some formless condition, not through a very nothing; but
I desired to know, not to guess. And if my voice and my pen
should confess the whole unto Thee, whatsoever knots Thou hast
untied for me, concerning this question, who of my readers would
endure to take in the whole ? Nor yet, therefore, shall my heart
cease to give Thee honour, and a song of praise, for those things
which it is not able to express. For the mutability of mutable
things is itself capable of all those forms into which mutable
things are changed. And this mutability, what is it ? Is it soul
? Is it body ? Is it the outer appearance of soul or body? Could
it be said, "Nothing were something," and "That which is, is
not," I would say that this were it; and yet in some manner was
it already, since it could receive these visible and compound
shapes.
CHAP. VII. OUT OF NOTHING
GOD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH.
7. And whence and in
what manner was this, unless from Thee, from whom are all things,
in so far as they are ? But by how much the farther from Thee, so
much the more unlike unto Thee; for it is not distance of place.
Thou, therefore, O Lord, who art not one thing in one place, and
otherwise in another, but the Self-same, and the Self-same, and
the Self-same? Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God- Almighty, didst in
the beginning, which is of Thee, in Thy Wisdom, which was born of
Thy Substance, create something, and that out of nothing.(4) For
Thou didst create heaven and earth, not out of Thyself, for then
they would be equal to Thine Only-begotten, and thereby even to
Thee; (5) and in no wise would it be right that anything should
be equal to Thee which was not of Thee. And aught else except
Thee there was not whence Thou mightest create these things, O
God, One Trinity, and Trine Unity; and, therefore, out of nothing
didst Thou create heaven and earth, a great thing and a
small,because Thou art Almighty and Good, to make all things
good, even the great heaven and the I small earth. Thou wast,
and there was nought else from which Thou didst create heaven and
earth; two such things, one near unto Thee, the other near to
nothing,(6) one to which Thou shouldest be superior, the other
to which nothing should be inferior.
CHAP. VIII. HEAVEN AND EARTH
WERE MADE "IN THE BEGINNING;" AFTERWARDS THE WORLD, DURING SIX
DAYS, FROM SHAPELESS MATTER.
8. But that heaven of heavens was for Thee, O Lord; but the
earth, which Thou hast given to the sons of men,x to be seen and
touched, was not such as now we see and touch. For ff was
invisible and "without form,"(2) and there was a deep over which
there was not light; or, darkness was over the deep, that is,
more than i in the deep. For this deep of waters, now visible,
has, even in its depths, a light suitable to its nature,
perceptible in some manner unto fishes and creeping things in the
bottom of it. But the entire deep was almost nothing, since
hitherto it was altogether formless; yet there was then that
which could be formed. For Thou, O Lord, hast made the world of
a formless matter, which matter, out of nothing, Thou hast made
almost nothing, out of which to make those great things which we,
sons of men, wonder at. For very wonderful is this corporeal
heaven, of which firmament, between water and water, the second
day after the creation of light, Thou saidst, Let it be made, and
it was made? Which firmament Thou calledst heaven, that is, the
heaven of this earth and sea, which Thou madest on the third day,
by giving a visible shape to the formless matter which Thou
madest before all days. For even already hadst Thou made a
heaven before all days, but that was the heaven of this heaven;
because in the beginning Thou hadst made heaven and earth. But
the earth itself which Thou hadst made was formless matter,
because it was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon
the deep. Of which invisible and formless earth, of which
formlessness, of which almost nothing, Thou mightest make all
these things of which this changeable world consists, and yet
consisteth not; whose very changeableness appears in this, that
times can be observed and numbered in it. Because times are made
by the changes of things, while the shapes, whose matter is the
invisible earth aforesaid, are varied and turned.
CHAP. IX. THAT THE HEAVEN
OF HEAVENS WAS AN INTELLECTUAL CREATURE, BUT THAT THE EARTH WAS
INVISIBLE AND FORMLESS BEFORE THE DAYS THAT IT WAS MADE.
9. And therefore the Spirit, the Teacher of Thy servant (4) when
He relates that Thou didst in the Beginning create heaven and
earth, is silent as to times, silent as to days. For, doubtless,
that heaven of heavens, which Thou in the Beginning didst create,
is some intellectual creature, which, although in no wise co-
eternal unto Thee, the Trinity, is yet a partaker of Thy
eternity, and by reason of the sweetness of that most happy
contemplation of Thyself, doth greatly restrain its own
mutability, and without any failure, from the time in which it
was created, in clinging unto Thee, surpasses all the rolling
change of times. But this shapelessness -this earth invisible
and without form has not itself been numbered among the days.
For where there is no shape nor order, nothing either cometh or
goeth; and where this is not, there certainly are no days, nor
any vicissitude of spaces of times.
CHAP. X. HE BEGS OF GOD THAT
HE MAY LIVE IN THE TRUE LIGHT, AND MAY BE INSTRUCTED AS TO THE
MYSTERIES OF THE SACRED BOOKS.
10. Oh, let Truth, the light of my heart, (5) not my own
darkness, speak unto me ! I have descended to that, and am
darkened. But thence, even thence, did I love Thee. I went
astray, and remembered Thee: I heard Thy voice behind me bidding
me return, and scarcely did I hear it for the tumults of the
unquiet ones. And now, behold, I return burning and panting
after Thy fountain. Let no one prohibit me; of this will I
drink, and so have life. Let me not be my own life; from myself
have I badly lived,Neath was I unto myself; in Thee do I revive.
Do Thou speak unto me; do Thou discourse unto me. In Thy books
have I believed, and their words are very deep.(6)
CHAP. XI. WHAT MAY BE
DISCOVERED TO HIM BY GOD.
11. Already hast Thou
told me, O Lord, with a strong voice, in my inner ear, that Thou
art eternal, having alone immortality.(7) Since Thou art not
changed by any shape or motion, nor is Thy will altered by times,
because no will which changes is immortal. This in Thy sight is
clear to me, and let it become more and more clear, I beseech
Thee; and in that manifestation let me abide more soberly under
Thy wings. Likewise hast Thou said to me, O Lord, with a strong
voice, in my inner ear, that Thou hast made all natures and
substances, which are not what Thou Thyself art, and yet they
are; and that only is not from Thee which is not, and the motion
of the will from Thee who art, to that which in a less degree is,
because such motion is guilt and sin; and that no one's sin doth
either hurt Thee, or disturb the order of Thy rule, (2) either
first or last. This, in Thy sight, is clear to me and let it
become more and more clear, I beseech Thee; and in that
manifestation let me abide more soberly under Thy wings.
12.
Likewise hast Thou said to me, with a strong voice, in my inner
ear, that that creature, whose will Thou alone art, is not co-
eternal unto Thee, and which, with a most persevering purity (3)
drawing its support from Thee, doth, in place and at no time, put
forth its own mutability; and Thyself being ever present with it,
unto whom with its entire affection it holds itself, having no
future to expect nor conveying into the past what it remembereth,
is varied by no change, nor extended into any times. O blessed
one, if any such there be, in clinging unto Thy Blessedness;
blest in Thee, its everlasting Inhabitant and its Enlightener !
Nor do I find what the heaven of heavens, which is the Lord's,
can be better called than Thine house, which contemplateth Thy
delight without any defection of going forth to another; a pure
mind, most peacefully one, by that stability of peace of holy
spirits,(6) the citizens of Thy city "in the heavenly places,"
above these heavenly places which are seen.(7)
13. Whence
the soul, whose wandering has been made far away, may understand,
if now she thirsts for Thee, if now her tears have become bread
to her, while it is daily said unto her "Where is thy God ?" (8)
if she now seeketh of Thee one thing, and desireth that she may
dwell in Thy house all the days of her life? And what is her
life but Thee ? And what are Thy days but Thy eternity, as Thy
years which fail not, because Thou art the same ? Hence,
therefore, can the soul, which is able, understand how far beyond
all times Thou art eternal; when Thy house, which has not
wandered from Thee, although it be not co-eternal with Thee, yet
by continually and unfailingly clinging unto Thee, suffers no
vicissitude of times. This in Thy sight is clear unto me, and
may it become more and more clear unto me, I beseech Thee; and in
this manifestation may I abide more soberly under Thy wings.
14. Behold, I know not what shapelessness there is in those
changes of these last and lowest creatures. And who shall tell
me, unless it be some one who, through the emptiness of his own
heart, wanders and is staggered by his own fancies? Who, unless
such a one, would tell me that (all figure being diminished and
consumed), if the formlessness only remain, through which the
thing was changed and was turned from one figure into another,
that that can exhibit the changes of times ? For surely it could
not be, because without the change of motions times are not, and
there is no change where there is no figure.
CHAP. XII. FROM THE
FORMLESS EARTH GOD CREATED ANOTHER HEAVEN AND A VISIBLE AND
FORMED EARTH.
15. Which things considered as much as Thou givest, O my
God, as much as Thou excitest me to "knock," and as much as Thou
openest unto me when I knock,x° two things I find which Thou hast
made, not within the compass of time, since neither is co-eternal
with Thee. One, which is so formed that, without any failing of
contemplation, without any interval of change, although
changeable, yet not changed, it may fully enjoy Thy eternity and
unchangeableness; the other, which was so formless, that it had
not that by which it could be changed from one form into another,
either of motion or of repose, whereby it i might be subject unto
time. But this Thou didst not leave to be formless, since before
all days, in the beginning Thou createdst heaven and earth,
these two things of which I spoke. But the earth was invisible
and without form, and darkness was upon the deep. By which words
its shapelessness is conveyed unto us,that by degrees those minds
may be drawn on which cannot wholly conceive the privation of all
form without coming to nothing, whence another heaven might be
created, and another earth visible and well-formed, and water
beautifully ordered, and whatever besides is, in the formation of
this world, recorded to have been, not without days, created;
because such things are so that in them the vicissitudes of times
may take place, on account of the appointed changes of motions
and of forms.12
CHAP. XIII. OF THE INTELLECTUAL HEAVEN AND FORMLESS EARTH, OUT OF WHICH,
ON ANOTHER DAY, THE FIRMAMENT WAS FORMED.
16. Meanwhile I conceive this, O my God, when I hear Thy
Scripture speak, saying, In the beginning God made heaven and
earth; but the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness
was upon the deep, and not stating on what day Thou didst create
these things. Thus, meanwhile, do I conceive, that it is on
account of that heaven of heavens, that intellectual heaven,
where to understand is to know all at once, not "in part," not
"darkly," not "through a glass," but as a whole, in
manifestation, "face to face;" not this thing now, that anon, but
(as has been said) to know at once without any change of times;
and on account of the invisible and formless earth, without any
change of times; which change is wont to have "this thing now,
that anon," because, where there is no form there can be no
distinction between "this" or "that; " it is, then, on account
of these two, a primitively formed, and a wholly formless; the
one heaven, but the heaven of heavens, the other earth, but the
earth invisible and formless ; on account of these two do I
meanwhile conceive that Thy Scripture said without mention of
days, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
For immediately it added of what earth it spake. And when on the
second day the firmament is recorded to have been created, and
called heaven, it suggests to us of which heaven He spake before
without mention of days.
CHAP. XIV. OF THE DEPTH OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, AND ITS ENEMIES.
17.
Wonderful is the depth of Thy oracles, whose surface is before
us, inviting the little ones; and yet wonderful is the depth, O
my God, wonderful is the depth. It is awe to look into it; and
awe of honour, and a tremor of love. The enemies thereof I hate
vehemently. (3) Oh, if Thou wouldest slay them with Thy two-
edged sword, (4) that they be not its enemies ! For thus do I
love, that they should be slain unto themselves that they may
live unto Thee. But behold others not reprovers, but praisers of
the book of Genesis, " The Spirit of God," say they, "Who by His
servant Moses wrote these things, willed not that these words
should be thus understood. He willed not that it should be
understood as Thou sayest, but as we say." Unto whom, O God of
us all, Thyself being Judge, do I thus answer.
CHAP. XV. HE ARGUES AGAINST
ADVERSARIES CONCERNING THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS.
18.
"Will you say that these things are false, which, with a strong
voice, Truth tells me in my inner ear, concerning the very
eternity of the Creator, that His substance is in no wise changed
by time, nor that His will is separate from His substance?
Wherefore, He willeth not one thing now, another anon, but once
and for ever He willeth all things that He willeth; not again and
again, nor now this, now that; nor willeth afterwards what He
willeth not before, nor willeth not what before He willed.
Because such a will is mutable and no mutable thing is eternal;
but our God is eternal. Likewise He tells me, tells me in my
inner ear, that the expectation of future things is turned to
sight when they have come; and this same sight is turned to
memory when they have passed. Moreover, all thought which is
thus varied is mutable, and nothing mutable is eternal; but our
God is eternal." These things I sum up and put together, and I
find that my God, the eternal God, hath not made any creature by
any new will, nor that His knowledge suffereth anything
transitory.
19. What, therefore, will ye say, ye objectors?
Are these things false? "No," they say. "What is this? Is it
false, then, that every nature already formed, or matter
formable, is only from Him who is supremely good, because He is
supreme ? .... Neither do we deny this," say they. "What then?
Do you deny this, that there is a certain sublime creature,
clinging with so chaste a love with the true and truly eternal
God, that although it be not co-eternal with Him, yet it
separateth itself not from Him, nor floweth into any variety and
vicissitude of times, but resteth in the truest contemplation of
Him only ?" Since Thou, O God, showest Thyself unto him, and
sufficest him, who loveth Thee as muce as Thou commandest, and,
therefore, he declineth not from Thee, nor toward himself.(6)
This is the house of God, not earthly, nor of any celestial bulk
corporeal, but a spiritual house and a partaker of Thy eternity,
because without blemish for ever. For Thou hast made it fast for
ever and ever; Thou hast given it a law, which it shall not pass?
Nor yet is it co-eternal with Thee, O God, because not without
beginning, for it was made.
20. For although we find no
time before it, for wisdom was created before all things,(9)
not certainly that Wisdom manifestly co-eternal and equal unto
Thee, our God, His Father, and by Whom all things were created,
and in Whom, as the Beginning, Thou createdst heaven and earth;
but truly that wisdom which has been created, namely, the
intellectual nature,t which, in the contemplation of light, is
light. For this, although created, is also called wisdom. But
as great as is the difference between the Light which
enlighteneth and that which is enlightened? so great is the
difference between the Wisdom that createth and that which hath
been created; as between the Righteousness which justifieth, and
the righteousness which has been made by justification. For we
also are called Thy righteousness; for thus saith a certain
servant of Thine: "That we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him." Therefore, since a certain created wisdom was created
before all things, the rational and intellectual mind of that
chaste city of Thine, our mother which is above, and is free, and
"eternal in the heavens"(5) (in what heavens, unless in those
that praise Thee, the "heaven of heavens," because this also is
the "heaven of heavens," which is the Lord's) although we find
not time before it, because that which hath been created before
all things also precedeth the creature of time, yet is the
Eternity of the Creator Himself before it, from Whom, having been
created, it took the beginning, although not of time, for time
as yet was not, yet of its own very nature.
21. Hence
comes it so to be of Thee, our God, as to be manifestly another
than Thou, and not the Self-same.(7) Since, although we find time
not only not before it, but not in it (it being proper ever to
behold Thy face, nor is ever turned aside from it, wherefore it
happens that it is varied by no change), yet is there in it that
mutability itself whence it would become dark and cold, but that,
clinging unto Thee with sublime love, it shineth and gloweth from
Thee like a perpetual noon. O house, full of light and splendour
! I have loved thy beauty, and the place of the habitation of the
glory of my Lord, thy builder and owner. Let my wandering sigh
after thee; and I speak unto Him that made thee, that He may
possess me also in thee, seeing He hath made me likewise. "I
have gone astray, like a lost sheep ;" (9) yet upon the shoulders
of my Sheperd,(10) thy builder, I hope that I may be brought back
to thee.
22. "What say ye to me, O ye objectors whom I was
addressing, and who yet believe that Moses was the holy servant
of God, and that his books were the oracles of the Holy Ghost ?
Is not this house of God, not indeed co-eternal with God, yet,
according to its measure, eternal in the heavens, n where in vain
you seek for changes of times, because you will not find them ?
For that surpasseth all extension, and every revolving space of
time, to which it is ever good to cleave fast to God."(12) "It
is," say they. "What, therefore, of those things which my heart
cried out unto my God, when within it heard the voice of His
praise, what then do you contend is false ? Or is it because the
matter was formless, wherein, as there was no form, there was no
order ? But where there was no order there could not be any
change of times; and yet this ' almost nothing,' inasmuch as it
was not altogether nothing, was verily from Him, from Whom is
whatever is, in what state soever anything is." "This also," say
they, "we do not deny."
CHAP. XVI. HE WISHES TO
HAVE NO INTERCOURSE WITH THOSE WHO DENY DIVINE TRUTH.
23. With such as grant that all these things which Thy truth
indicates to my mind are true, I desire to confer a little before
Thee, O my God. For let those who deny these things bark and
drown their own voices with their clamour as much as they please;
I will endeavour to persuade them to be quiet, and to suffer Thy
word to reach them. But should they be unwilling, and should
they repel me, I beseech, O my God, that Thou "be not silent to
me."(13) Do Thou speak truly in my heart, for Thou only so
speakest, and I will send them away blowing upon the dust from
without, and raising it up into their own eyes; and will myself
enter into my chamber,(14) and sing there unto Thee songs of
love, groaning with groaning unutterable (15) in my pilgrimage,
and remembering Jerusalem, with heart raised up towards it,(16)
Jerusalem my country, Jerusalem my mother, and Thyself, the Ruler
over it, the Enlightener, the Father, the Guardian, the Husband,
the chaste and strong delight, the solid joy, and all good things
ineffable, even all at the same time, because the one supreme and
true Good. And I will not be turned away until Thou collect all
that I am, from this dispersion (1) and deformity, into the peace
of that very dear mother, where are the first-fruits of my
spirit, (2) whence these things are assured to me, and Thou
conform and confirm it for ever, my God, my Mercy. But with
reference to those who say not that all these things which are
true and false, who honour Thy Holy Scripture set forth by holy
Moses, placing it, as with us, on the summit of an authority (8)
to be followed, and yet who contradict us in some particulars, I
thus speak: Be Thou, O,our God, judge between my confessions and
their contradictions.
CHAP. XVII. HE MENTIONS
FIVE EXPLANATIONS OF THE WORDS OF GENESIS i. I.
24.
For they say, "Although these things be true, yet Moses regarded
not those two things, when by divine revelation he said, 'In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' (4) Under the
name of heaven he did not indicate that spiritual or intellectual
creature which always beholds the face of God; nor under the name
of earth, that shapeless matter." " What then?" "'that man,"
say they, "meant as we say; this it is that he declared by those
words." "What is that ?" "By the name of heaven and earth," say
they, "did he first wish to set forth, universally and briefly,
all this visible world, that afterwards by the enumeration of the
days he might distribute, as if in detail, all those things which
it pleased the Holy Spirit thus to reveal. For such men were
that rude and carnal people to which he spoke, that he judged it
prudent that only those works of God as were visible should be
entrusted to them." They agree, however, that the earth
invisible and formless, and the darksome deep (out of which it is
subsequently pointed out that all these visible things, which are
known to all, were made and set in order during those" days" ),
may not unsuitably be understood of this formless matter.
25. What, now, if another should say "That this same
formlessness and confusion of matter was first introduced under
the name of heaven and earth, because out of it this visible
world, with all those natures which most manifestly appear in it,
and which is wont to be called by the name of heaven and earth,
was created and perfected "? But what if another should say, that
"That invisible and visible nature is not inaptly called heaven
and earth; and that consequently the universal creation, which
God in His wisdom hath made, that is, 'in the begining,' was
comprehended under these two words. Yet, since all things have
been made, not of the substance of God, but out of nothings
(because they are not that same thing that God is, and there is
in them all a certain mutability, whether they remain, as doth
the eternal house of God, or. be changed, as are the soul and
body of man), therefore, that the common matter of all things
invisible and visible, as yet shapeless, but still capable of
form, out of which was to be created heaven and earth (that is,
the invisible and visible creature already formed), was spoken of
by the same names by which the earth invisible and formless and
the darkness upon the deep would be called; with this difference,
however, that the earth invisible and formless is understood as
corporeal matter, before it had any manner of form, but the
darkness upon the deep as spiritual matter, before it was
restrained at all of its unlimited fluidity, and before the
enlightening of wisdom."
26. should any man wish, he may
still say, "That the already perfected and formed natures,
invisible and visible, are not signified under the name of heaven
and earth when it is read, 'In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth ;' but that the yet same formless beginning
of things, the matter capable of being formed and made, was
called by these names, because contained in it there were these
confused things not as yet distinguished by their qualities and
forms, the which now being digested in their own orders, are
called heaven and earth, the former being the spiritual, the
latter the corporeal creature. '
CHAP. XVIII. WHAT ERROR
IS HARMLESS IN SACRED SCRIPTURE.
27. All which
things having been heard and considered, I am unwilling to
contend about words,(6) for that is profitable to nothing but to
the subverting of the hearers.(7) But the law is good to edify,
if a man use it lawfully; (8) for the end of it "is charity out
of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned." And well did our Master know, upon which two
commandments He hung all the Law and the Prophets. And what doth
it hinder me, O my God, Thou light of my eyes in secret, while
ardently confessing these things, since by these words many
things may be understood, all of which are yet true, what, I
say, doth it! hinder me, should I think otherwise of what the
writer thought than some other man thinketh ? Indeed, all of us
who read endeavour to trace out and to understand that which he
whom we read wished to convey; and as we believe him to speak
truly, we dare not suppose that he has spoken anything which we
either know or suppose to be false. Since, therefore, each
person endeavours to understand in the Holy Scriptures that which
the writer understood, what hurt is it if a man understand what
Thou, the light of all true-speaking minds, dost show him to be
true although he whom he reads understood not this, seeing that
he also understood a Truth, not, however, this Truth ?
CHAP. XIX. HE ENUMERATES
THE THINGS CONCERNING WHICH ALL AGREE.
28. For it
is true, O Lord, that Thou hast made heaven and earth; it is also
true, that the Beginning is Thy Wisdom, in Which Thou hast made
all things. It is likewise true, that this visible world hath
its own great parts, the heaven and the earth, which in a short
compass comprehends all made and created natures. It is also
true, that everything mutable sets before our minds a certain
want of form, whereof it taketh a form, or is changed and turned.
It is true, that that is subject to no times which so cleaveth to
the changeless form as that, though it be mutable, it is not
changed. It is true, that the formlessness, which is almost
nothing, cannot have changes, of times. It is true, that that of
which anything is made may by a certain mode of speech be called
by the name of that thing which is made of it; whence that
formlessness of which heaven and earth were made might it be
called "heaven and earth." It is true, that of all things having
form, nothing is nearer to the formless than the earth and the
deep. It is true, that not only every created, and formed thing,
but also whatever is capable of creation and of form, Thou hast
made, "by whom are all things." It is true, that everything that
is formed from that which is formless was formless before it was
formed.
CHAP. XX. OF THE WORDS,
"IN THE BEGINNING," VARIOUSLY UNDERSTOOD.
29. From all
these truths, of which they doubt not whose inner eye Thou hast
granted to see such things, and who immoveably believe, Moses,
Thy servant, to have spoken in the spirit of truth; from all
these, then, he taketh one who saith, "In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth," that is, "In His Word, co-
eternal with Himself, God made the intelligible and the sensible,
or the spiritual and corporeal creature." He taketh another, who
saith, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,"
that is, "In His Word, co-eternal with Himself, God made the
universal mass of this corporeal world, with all those manifest
and known natures which it containeth." He, another, who saith,
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," that is,
"In His Word, co-eternal with Himself, God made the formless
matter of the spiritual (4) and corporeal creature." He,
another, who saith, "In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth' that is, "In His Word, co-eternal with Himself, God
made the formless matter of the corporeal creature, wherein
heaven and earth lay as yet confused, which being now
distinguished and formed, we, at this day, see in the mass of
this world." He, another, who saith, "In the beginning God
created heaven and earth, " that is, "In the very beginning of
creating and working, God made that formless matter confusedly
containing heaven and earth, out of which, being formed, they now
stand out, and are manifest, with all the things that are in
them."
CHAP. XXI. OF THE EXPLANATION OF THE WORDS, "THE EARTH WAS INVISIBLE."
30.
And as concerns the understanding of the following words, out of
all those truths he selected one to himself, who saith, "But the
earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the
deep, " that is, "That corporeal thing, which God made, was as
yet the formless matter of corporeal things, without order
without light." He taketh another, who saith, "But the earth was
invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, "
that is, "This whole, which is called heaven and earth, was as
yet formless and darksome matter, out of which the corporeal
heaven and the corporeal earth were to be made, with all things
therein which are known to our corporeal senses." He, another,
who saith, "But the earth was invisible and without form, and
darkness was upon the deep," that is, "This whole, which is
called heaven and earth, was as yet a formless and darksome
matter, out of which were to be made that intelligible heaven,
which is otherwise called the heaven of heavens, and the earth,
namely, the whole corporeal nature, under which name may also be
comprised this corporeal heaven, that is, from which every
invisible and visible creature would be created." He, another,
who saith, "But the carth was invisible and without form, and
darkness was upon the deep," "The Scripture called not that
formlessness by the name of heaven and earth, but that
formlessness itself," saith he, "already was, which he named the
earth invisible and formless and the darksome deep, of which he
had said before, that God had made the heaven and the earth,
namely, the spiritual and corporeal creature." He, another, who
saith, "But the earth was invisible and formless, and darkness
was upon the deep," that is, "There was already a formless
matter, whereof the Scripture before said, that God had made
heaven and earth, namely, the entire corporeal mass of the world,
divided into two very great parts, the superior and the inferior,
with all those familiar and known creatures which are in them."
CHAP. XXII. HE DISCUSSES
WHETHER MATTER WAS FROM ETERNITY, OR WAS MADE BY GOD.1
31. For, should any one endeavour to contend against these last
two opinions, thus, " If you will not admit that this
formlessness of matter appears to be called by the name of heaven
and earth, then there was something which God had not made out of
which He could make heaven and earth; for Scripture hath not told
us that God made this matter, unless we understand it to be
implied in the term of heaven and earth, or of earth only, when
it is said, 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth,' as
that which follows, but the earth was invisible and formless,
although it was pleasing to him so to call the formless matter,
we may not yet understand any but that which God made in that
text which hath been already written, 'God made heaven and
earth.'" The maintainers of either one or the other of these two
opinions which we have put last will, when they have heard these
things, answer and say, "We deny not indeed that this formless
matter was created by God, the God of whom are all things, very
good; for, as we say that that is a greater good which is created
and formed, so we acknowledge that that is a minor good which :is
capable of creation and form, but yet good. But yet the
Scripture hath not declared that God made this formlessness, any
more than it hath declared many other things; as the 'Cherubim,'
and 'Seraphim,' (2) and those of which the apostle distinctly
speaks, 'Thrones,' 'Dominions,' 'Principalities,' 'Powers,' (3)
all of which it is manifest God made. Or if in that which is
said, 'He made heaven and earth,' all things are comprehended,
what do we say of the waters upon which the Spirit of God moved?
For if they are understood as incorporated in the word earth, how
then can formless matter be meant in the term earth when we see
the waters so beautiful ? Or if it be so meant, why then is it
written that out of the same formlessness the firmament was made
and called heaven, and yet it is not written that the waters were
made ? For those waters, which we perceive flowing in so
beautiful a manner, remain not formless and invisiblee. But if,
then, they received that beauty when God said, Let the water
which is under the firmament be gathered together, (4) so that
the gathering be the very formation, what will be answered
concerning the waters which are above the firmament, because if
formless they would not have deserved to receive a seat so
honourable, nor is it written by what word they were formed ? If,
then, Genesis is silent as to anything that God has made, which,
however, neither sound faith nor unerring understanding doubteth
that God hath made, (5) let not any sober teaching dare to say
that these waters were co-eternal with God because we find them
mentioned in the book of Genesis; but when they were created, we
find not. Why truth instructing us may we not understand
that that formless matter, which the Scripture calls the earth
invisible and without form, and the darksome deep,(6) have been
made by God out of nothing, and therefore that they are not co-
eternal with Him, although that narrative hath failed to tell
when they were made ?"
CHAP. XXIII. TWO KINDS OF DISAGREEMENTS IN THE BOOKS TO BE EXPLAINED.
32.
These things, therefore, being heard and perceived according to
my weakness of apprehension, which I confess unto Thee, O Lord,
who knowest it, I see that two sorts of differences may arise
when by signs anything is related, even by true reporters,- one
concerning the truth of the things, the other concerning the
meaning of him who reports them. For in one way we inquire,
concerning the forming of the creature, what is true; but in
another, what Moses, that excellent servant of Thy faith, would
have wished that the reader and hearer should understand by these
words. As for the first kind, let all those depart from me who
imagine themselves to know as true what is false. And as for the
other also, let all depart from me who imagine Moses to have
spoken things that are false. But let me be united in Thee, O
Lord, with them, and in Thee delight myself with them that feed
on Thy truth, in the breadth of charity; and let us approach
together unto the words of Thy book, and in them make search for
Thy will, through the will of Thy servant by whose pen Thou hast
dispensed them.
CHAP. XXIV. OUT OF THE
MANY TRUE THINGS, IT IS NOT ASSERTED CONFIDENTLY THAT MOSES
UNDERSTOOD THIS OR THAT.
33. But which of us, amid so many truths which occur to
inquirers in these words, understood as they are in different
ways, shall so discover that one interpretation as to confidently
say "that Moses thought this," and "that in that narrative he
wished this to be understood," as confidently as he says "that
this is true," whether he thought this thing or the other? For
behold, O my God, I Thy servant, who in this book have vowed unto
Thee a sacrifice of confession, and beseech Thee that of Thy
mercy I may pay my vows unto Thee, behold, can I, as I
confidently assert that Thou in Thy immutable word hast created
all things, invisible and visible, with equal confidence assert
that Moses meant nothing else than this when he wrote, "In the
beginning God created. the heaven and the earth. No. Because
it is not as clear to me that this was in his mind when he wrote
these things, as I see it to be certain in Thy truth. For his
thoughts might be set upon the very beginning of the creation
when he said, "In the beginning;" and he might wish it to be
understood that, in this place, "the heaven and the earth" were
no formed and perfected nature, whether spiritual or corporeal,
but each of them newly begun, and as yet formless. Because I
see, that which-soever of these had been said, it might have been
said truly; but which of them he may have thought in these words,
I do not so perceive. Although, whether it were one of these, or
some other meaning which has not been mentioned by me, that this
great man saw in his mind when he used these words, I make no
doubt but that he saw it truly, and expressed it suitably.
CHAP. XXV. IT BEHOVES
INTERPRETERS, WHEN DISAGREEING CONCERNING OBSCURE PLACES, TO
REGARD GOD THE AUTHOR OF TRUTH, AND THE RULE OF CHARITY.
34. Let no one now trouble me by saying, Moses thought not
as you say, but as I say." For should he ask me, "Whence knowest
thou that Moses thought this which you deduce from his words?" I
ought to take it contentedly, and reply perhaps as I have before,
or somewhat more fully should he be obstinate. But when he says,
"Moses meant not what you say, [but what I say," and yet denies
not what each of us says, and that both are true, O my God, life
of the poor, in whose bosom there is no contradiction, pour down
into my heart Thy soothings, that I may patiently bear with such
as say this to me; not because they are divine, and because they
have seen in the heart of Thy servant what they say, but because
they are proud, and have not known the opinion of Moses, but love
their own,- not because it is true, but because it is their own.
Otherwise they would equally love another true opinion, as I love
what they say when they speak what is true j not because it is
theirs, but because it is true, and therefore now not theirs
because true. But i if they therefore love that because it is
true, it is now both theirs and mine, since it is common :to all
the lovers of truth. But because they contend that Moses meant
not what I say, but I what they themselves say, this I neither
like nor love; because, though it were so, yet that rashness is
not of knowledge, but of audacity; and not vision, but vanity
brought it forth. And therefore, O Lord, are Thy judgments to be
dreaded, since Thy truth is neither mine, nor his, nor another's,
but of all of us, whom Thou publicly callest to have it in
common, warning us terribly not to hold it as specially for
ourselves, test we be deprived of it. For whosoever claims to
himself as his own that which Thou appointed to all to enjoy, and
desires that to be his own which belongs to all, is forced away
from what is common to all to that which is his own that is,
from truth to falsehood. For he that "speaketh a lie, speaketh
of his Own. I, 1
35. Hearken, O God, Thou best Judge! Truth itself, hearken
to what I shall say to this gainsayer; hearken, for before Thee I
say it, and before my brethren who use Thy law lawfully, to the
end of charity; (2) hearken and behold what I shall say to him,
if it be pleasing unto Thee. For this brotherly and peaceful
word do I return unto him: "If we both see that that which thou
sayest is true, and if we both see that what I say is true,
where, I ask, do we see it ? Certainly not I in thee, nor thou in
me, but both in the unchangeable truth itself? which is above
our minds." When, therefore, we may not contend about the very
light of the Lord our God, why do we contend about the thoughts
of. our neighbour, which we cannot so see as incommutable truth
is seen; when, if Moses himself had appeared to us and said,
"This I meant," not so should we see it, but believe it ? Let us
not, then, "be puffed up for one against the other," (4) above
that which is written; let us love the Lord our God with all our
heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and our
neighbour as ourself.(5) As to which two precepts of charity,
unless we believe that Moses meant whatever in these books he did
mean, we shall make God a liar when we think otherwise concerning
our fellow-servants' mind than He hath taught us. Behold, now,
how foolish it is, in so great an abundance of the truest
opinions which can be extracted from these words, rashly to
affirm which of them Moses particularly meant; and with
pernicious contentions to offend charity itself, on account of
which he hath spoken all the things whose words we endeavour to
explain.
CHAP. XXVI. WHAT HE
MIGHT HAVE ASKED OF GOD HAD HE BEEN ENJOINED TO WRITE THE BOOK OF
GENESIS.
36. And yet, O my God, Thou exaltation of my humility, and
rest of my labour, who hearest my confessions, and forgivest my
sins, since Thou commandest me that I should love my neighbour as
myself, I cannot believe that Thou gavest to Moses, Thy most
faithful servant, a less gift than I should wish and desire for
myself from Thee, had I been born in his time, and hadst Thou
placed me in that position that through the service of my heart
and of my tongue those books might be distributed, which so long
after were to profit all nations, and through the whole world,
from so great a pinnacle of authority, were to surmount the words
of all false and proud teachings. I should have wished truly had
I then been Moses (for we all come from the same mass; and what
is man, saving that Tho.u art mindful of him?6). I should then,
had I been at that time what he was, and enjoined by Thee to
write the book of Genesis, have wished that such a power of
expression and such a method of arrangement should be given me,
that they who cannot as yet understand how God creates might not
reject the words as surpassing their powers; and they who are
already able to do this, would find, in what true opinion soever
they had by thought arrived at, that it was not passed over in
the few words of Thy servant; and should another man by the light
of truth have discovered another, neither should that fail to be
found in those same words.
CHAP. XXVII. THE STYLE
OF SPEAKING IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS IS SIMPLE AND CLEAR.
37. For as a fountain in a limited space is more plentiful,
and affords supply for more streams over larger spaces than any
one of those streams which, after a wide interval, is derived
from the same fountain; so the narrative of Thy dispenser,
destined to benefit many who were likely to discourse thereon,
does, from a limited measure of language, overflow into streams
of clear truth, whence each one may draw out for himself that
truth which he can concerning these subjects,- this one that
truth, that one another, by larger circumlocutions of discourse.
For some, when they read or hear these words, think that God as a
man or some mass gifted with immense power, by some new and
sudden resolve, had, outside itself, as if at distant places,
created heaven and earth, two great bodies above and below,
wherein all things were to be contained. And when they hear, God
said, Let it be made, and it was made, they think of words begun
and ended, sounding in times and passing away, after the
departure of which that came into being which was commanded to
be; and whatever else of the kind their familiarity with the
world (7) would suggest. In whom, being as yet little ones, (8)
while their weakness by this humble kind of speech is carried on
as if in a mother's bosom, their faith is healthfully built up,
by which they have and hold as certain that God made all natures,
which in wondrous variety their senses perceive on every side.
Which words, if any one despising them, as if trivial, with proud
weakness shall have stretched himself beyond his fostering
cradle, he will, alas, fall miserably. Have pity, O Lord God,
lest they who pass by trample on the unfledged bird; and send
Thine angel, who may restore it to its nest that it may live
until it can fly.1
CHAP. XXVIII. THE WORDS, "IN THE BEGINNING," AND, "THE HEAVEN AND THE
EARTH," ARE DIFFERENTLY UNDERSTOOD.
38. But others, to whom these words are no longer a nest,
but shady fruit-bowers, see the fruits concealed in them, fly
around rejoicing, and chirpingly search and pluck them. For they
see when they read or hear these words, O God, that all times
past and future are surmounted by Thy eternal and stable abiding,
and still that there is no temporal creature which Thou hast not
made. And by Thy will, because! it is that which Thou art, Thou
hast made all! things, not by any changed will, nor by a will
which before was not, not out of Thyself, in Thine own
likeness, the form of all things, but out of nothing, a formless
unlikeness which should be formed by Thy likeness (having
recourse to Thee the One, after their settled capacity, according
as it has been given to each thing in his kind), and might all be
made very good; whether they remain around Thee, or, being by
degrees removed in time and place, make or undergo beautiful
variations. These things they see, and rejoice in the light of
Thy truth, in the little degree they here may.
39. Again,
another of these directs his attention to that which is said, "In
the beginning God made the heaven and the earth," and beholdeth
Wisdom,- the Beginning, because It also speaketh unto us.
Another likewise directs his attention to the same words, and by
"beginning" understands the commencement of things created; and
receives it thus,- In the beginning He made, as if it were said,
He at first made. And among those who understand "In the
beginning" to mean, that "in Thy Wisdom Thou bast created heaven
and earth," one believes the matter out of which the heaven and
earth were to be created to be there called "heaven and earth;"
another, that they are natures already formed and distinct;
another, one formed nature, and that a spiritual, under the name
of heaven, the other formless, of corporeal matter, under the
name of earth. But they who under the name of "heaven and earth"
understand matter as yet formless, out of which were to be formed
heaven and earth, do not themselves understand it in one manner;
but one, that matter out of which the intelligible and the
sensible creature were to be completed; another, that only out of
which this sensible corporeal mass was to come, holding in its
vast bosom these visible and prepared natures. Nor are they who
believe that the creatures already set in order and arranged are
in this place called heaven and earth of one accord; but the one,
both the invisible and visible; the other, the visible only, in
which we admire the luminous heaven and darksome earth, and the
things that are therein.
CHAP. XXIX. CONCERNING THE OPINION OF THOSE WHO EXPLAIN IT "AT FIRST
HE MADE."
40. But he who does not otherwise understand, "In the beginning
He made," than if it were said, "At first He made," can only
truly understand heaven and earth of the matter of heaven and
earth, namely, of the universal, that is, intelligible and
corporeal creation. For if he would have it of the universe. as
already formed, it might rightly be asked of him: "If at first
God made this, what made He afterwards?" And after the universe
he will find nothing; thereupon must he, though unwilling, hear,
"How is this first, if there is nothing afterwards?" But when he
says that God made matter first formless, then formed, he is not
absurd if he be but able to discern what precedes by eternity,
what by time, what by choice, what by origin. By eternity, as
God is before all things; by time, as the flower is before the
fruit; by choice, as the fruit is before the flower; by origin,
as sound is before the tune. Of these four, the first and last
which I have referred to are with much difficulty understood; the
two middle very easily. For an uncommon and too lofty vision it
is to behold, O Lord, Thy Eternity, immutably making things
mutable, and thereby before them. Who is so acute of mind as to
be able without great labour to discover how the sound is prior
to the tune, because a tune is a formed sound; and a thing not
formed may exist, but that which existeth not cannot be formed ?
(4) So is the matter prior to that which is made from it; not
prior because it maketh it, since itself is rather made, nor is
it prior by an interval of time. For we do not as to time first
utter formless sounds without singing, and then adapt or fashion
them into the form of a song, just as wood or silver from which a
chest or vessel is made. Because such materials do by time also
precede the forms of the things which are made from them; but in
singing this is not so. For when it is sung, its sound is heard
at the same time; seeing there is not first a formless sound,
which is afterwards formed into a song. For as soon as it shall
have first sounded it passeth away; nor canst thou find anything
of it, which being recalled thou canst by art compose. And,
therefore, the song is absorbed in its own sound, which sound of
it is its matter. Because this same is formed that it may be a
tune; and therefore, as I was saying, the matter of the sound is
prior to the form of the tune, not before through any power of
making it a tune; for neither is a sound the composer of the
tune, but is sent forth from the body and is subjected to the
soul of the singer, that from it he may form a tune. Nor is it
first in time, for it is given forth together with the tune; nor
first in choice, for a sound is not better than a tune, since a
tune is not merely a sound, but a beautiful sound. But it is
first in origin, because the tune is not formed that it may
become a sound, but the sound is formed that it may become a
tune. By this example, let him who is able understand that the
matter of things was first made, and called heaven and earth,
because out of it heaven and earth were made. Not that it was
made first in time, because the forms of things give rise to
time, but that was formless; but now, in time, it is perceived
together with its form. Nor yet can anything be related
concerning that matter, unless as if it were prior in time, while
it is considered last (because things formed are assuredly
superior to things formless), and is preceded by the Eternity of
the Creator, so that there might be out of nothing that from
which something might be made.
CHAP. XXX. IN THE GREAT DIVERSITY OF OPINIONS, IT BECOMES ALL TO UNITE
CHARITY AND DIVINE TRUTH.
41. In this diversity of true opinions let Truth
itself beget concord; (2) and may our God have mercy upon us,
that we may use the law lawfully,a the end of the commandment,
pure charity.(4) And by this if any one asks of me, "Which of
these was the meaning of Thy servant Moses?" these were not the
utterances of my confessions, should I not confess unto Thee, "I
know not;" and yet I know that those opinions are true, with the
exception of those carnal ones concerning which I have spoken
what I thought well. However, these words of Thy Book affright
not those little ones of good hope, treating few of high things
in a humble fashion, and few things in varied ways. But let all,
whom I acknowledge to see and speak the truth in these words,
love one another, and equally love Thee, our God, fountain of
truth,- if we thirst not for vain things, but for it; yea, let us
so honour this servant of Thine, the dispenser of this Scripture,
full of Thy Spirit, as to believe that when Thou revealedst
Thyself to him, and he wrote these things, he intended that which
in them chiefly excels both for light of truth and fruitfulness
of profit.
CHAP. XXXI. MOSES IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE PERCEIVED WHATEVER OF TRUTH CAN
BE DISCOVERED IN HIS WORDS.
42. Thus, when one shall say, "He [Moses] meant as I do,"
and another, "Nay, but as I do," I suppose that I am speaking
more religiously when I say, "Why not rather as both, if both be
true?" And if there be a third truth, or a. fourth, and if any
one seek any truth altogether different in those words, why may
not he be believed to have seen all these, through whom one God
hath tempered the Holy Scriptures to the senses of many, about to
see therein things true but different? I certainly, and I
fearlessly declare it from my heart, were I to write anything
to have the highest authority, should prefer so to write, that
whatever of truth any one might apprehend concerning these
matters, my words should re-echo, rather than that I should set
down one true opinion so clearly on this as that I should exclude
the rest, that which was false in which could not offend me.
Therefore am I unwilling, O my God, to be so headstrong as not to
believe that from Thee this man [Moses] hath received so much.
He, surely, when he wrote those words, perceived and thought
whatever of truth we have been able to discover, yea, and
whatever we have not been able, nor yet are able, though still it
may be found in them.
CHAP. XXXII. FIRST, THE SENSE OF THE WRITER IS TO BE DISCOVERED, THEN
THAT IS TO BE BROUGHT OUT WHICH DIVINE TRUTH INTENDED.
43. Finally, O
Lord, who art God, and not flesh and blood, if man doth see
anything less, can anything lie hid from "T by good Spirit," who
shall "lead me into the land of uprightness," which Thou Thyself,
by those words, weft about to reveal to future readers, although
he through whom they were spoken, amid the many interpretations
that might have been found, fixed on but one? Which, if it be
so, let that which he thought on be more exalted than the rest.
But to us, O Lord, either point out the same, or any other true
one which may be pleasing unto Thee; so that whether Thou makest
known to us that which Thou didst to that man of Thine, or some
other by occasion of the same words, yet Thou mayest feed us, not
error deceive us. (2) Behold, O Lord my God, how many things we
have written concerning a few words, how many, I beseech Thee!
What strength of ours, what ages would suffice for all Thy books
after this manner? Permit me, therefore, in these more briefly
to confess unto Thee, and to select some one true, certain, and
good sense, that Thou shall inspire, although many [senses offer
themselves, where many, indeed, I may; this being the faith of my
confession, that if I should say that which Thy minister felt,
rightly and profitably, this I should strive for; the which if I
shall not attain, yet I may say that which Thy Truth willed
through Its words to say unto me, which said also unto him what
It willed.
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