The Douay-Rheims with the Glossa Ordinaria

¹In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.

v.1

VERS. 1.-- « In the beginning he created, » etc. He does not say: In the beginning God says, Let heaven and earth be made. But he said: « Let there be light, and light was made, » because under the name of heaven and earth there was to be comprehended universally whatsoever God made, and thereafter it was to be set forth part by part how he made it. Whence there follows: « God said, Let it be made, » that is, by his Word he made it. Or because, when formless matter, spiritual or corporeal, was first coming to be, it was not to be said: « God said, Let it be made; » for it was unfitting that « let it be made » should be said by God, since imperfection does not imitate the form of the Word, save when, by the conversion of its own kind to the Creator, the creature is made perfect; so that when it is said: « God said, Let it be made, » we may understand that he calls back to himself the imperfection of the creature. When therefore it is said: « In the beginning God made heaven and earth, » there is a commemoration of the Son, because he is the beginning; but when it is said: « God said, Let it be made, » it is commemorated that he is the Word. By "beginning" he notes the origin of the creature that exists from him; by "the Word," the perfecting of the creature called back from him to himself, that it may be formed by imitating the unchangeable form of the Word. For the Word of God has not a formless life, to whom to be is the same as to live; nay rather, to live the same as to live blessedly. But the spiritual creature has a formless life, to whom to be is not the same as to live; nor to live the same as to live blessedly: because, turned away from the wisdom of God, it lives foolishly and wretchedly. « In the beginning, » etc. Scripture, in intimating the creation of the world, shows by its first word the eternity and the omnipotence of God: for him whom it declares to have created the world in the beginning of times, it signifies to have existed eternally before times. And him whom it relates to have created heaven and earth at the outset of the founding, it declares to be omnipotent by so great a swiftness of working, for whom to have willed is to do. Well therefore is it said: « In the beginning he created, » etc. Both, that is, at once, although both are not uttered at once by a man. Whence the prophet shows the earth to have been made in the beginning, saying, psal. CI: « In the beginning thou, O Lord, didst found the earth, » etc. « In the beginning, » etc. Heaven, not the visible firmament, but the empyrean, that is, the fiery or intellectual heaven, which is so called not from burning but from splendour, and which was straightway filled with angels. Whence in Job XXXVIII: « Where wast thou when the morning stars praised me, » etc. And note that three elements are here commemorated. By the name of heaven we understand the air. By the name of earth, the earth itself and the fire that lies hid in it. Of the fourth, that is, of water, mention is made in what follows. « In the beginning. » In the Son, by whose being made man it lay open who were the heavenly and who the earthly. Heaven, the spiritual creature, from its beginning perfect and blessed. Earth, corporeal matter, as yet imperfect. Heaven, the formless matter of spiritual life, such as it can exist in itself, not turned to the Creator in whom it is formed. Earth, the corporeal, without any quality that appears in formed matter. Scripture says: « Who madest the world of formless matter. » Matter was made out of nothing. The species of the world, out of formless matter. Accordingly God made two things before all time, the angelic creature and formless matter. For although Solomon says: « Who lives for « ever created all things together, yet according to origin formless matter goes before formed species. And so God made the world, and the angels, and the soul out of nothing: man and the remaining creatures out of something. There are seven heavens, whose names are these, air, ether, olympus, the space or fiery region, the firmament, the heaven of the angels, and that of the Trinity. Jerome, however, says that the heaven of the Trinity is the first, that of the angels the second, the firmament the third. *Mystically.* « In the beginning God created heaven. » Those, namely, who have borne the image of the heavenly one. « And the earth, » that is, those who afterwards, by growing proud, bearing the earth, that is, the image of the earthly man, made themselves deformed. « But the earth was void, » because it had laid aside its good form. « And empty, » of the fruit of good work. « And there were darknesses, » the privation, namely, of the true light; « upon the face of the deep, » the hearts, namely, of the proud.

²And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.

v.2

VERS. 2.-- « But the earth was void, » etc. He shows what heaven, or what kind of heaven, was made in the beginning together with the earth. For he subjoins that of the earth which he did not wish to be understood of heaven. For this higher heaven, which is set apart from the world's revolving, as soon as it was created was filled with holy angels: whom the Lord testifies to have been founded in the beginning together with heaven and earth, saying, Job XXXVIII: « Where wast thou when the morning stars praised me, and all the sons of God rejoiced? » He calls the same angels both morning stars and sons of God. For of the heaven in which the luminaries are set, how or when it was made, he tells afterwards. « Void and empty. » Useless, namely, and unfruitful, and unordered. For all the elements were mingled and confused, and this whole space of air was full of waters; not such as they now are, but they were like thin clouds, such as those above the heavens still are. « There were darknesses, » etc. Those are not to be heard who say by way of reproach that God created darkness before light: because he made no darkness in the water or in the air; but by a distinct order of providence he first created the waters together with the heaven, and the earth, and adorned these with the grace of light when he willed. And it is to be noted that with the heaven two elements of the world were created, into which two others were inserted, water, namely, and earth, in which are fire and air. And the waters covered the whole surface of the earth with so great a depth that they reached even to those places where until now they partly rest above the firmament. But the earth itself and the water are called formless matter, because all the things which we see took their beginning either from these or out of nothing: and before they came into the light, there was not whence they might have form. « And the Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters. » Either he called the whole corporeal matter water, that he might intimate whence were made and formed all the things which we see formed on the earth out of a moist nature through divers species; or the spiritual life, as it were floating, before the form of its conversion. The Spirit of God was borne above, because that which he had begun to be formed and perfected lay beneath the good will of the Creator. It is also said, « The Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters. » Lest, by doing works, God should be thought to love through the necessity of want rather than through the abundance of beneficence. For fittingly is something first intimated to have been begun, over which he might be borne: not in place, but by a power surpassing all things. « And the Spirit of the Lord was borne, » etc. In the Hebrew it has *merahephet,* that is, it brooded, or cherished, after the manner of a bird warming eggs with the heat of a living thing. We understand therefore that this is not said of the spirit of the world, as many suppose; but of the Holy Spirit, who is himself the quickener of all things: and if the quickener, also the founder; if the founder, also God. Psal. CIII: « Send forth, he says, thy Spirit, and they shall be created. » « And the Spirit, » etc. In whom, subsisting, we might rest, quickened by his breath and washed by the wave of baptism. « And the Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters, » etc. As God, namely, and Creator, he presided over the floating and confused matter, that he might distinguish it when he willed. The whole Trinity therefore is understood to have worked here, God, that is, the Father; the beginning, the Son; the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. « And the Spirit, » etc. The hearts, namely, that were tossing to and fro, which had lost the quiet of the mind, because the Spirit did not rest upon them, but was borne above them: as one able to call back their nature from confusion into something better. Then throughout the whole text of this Scripture we see certain six laborious ages, though distinguished as it were by neighbouring bounds, so that in the seventh rest may be hoped for; and we see that they have a likeness to the six days in which those things were made which Scripture records God to have made. For the first beginning of the human race, in which it began to enjoy this light, is compared to the first day, on which God made light. This age is as it were the infancy of the whole world, which we think of, by the proportion of its greatness, as one man. For man, when he is first born into the light, passes his infancy, the first age, which extends from Adam to Noah in ten generations: the flood is as it were the evening of this day, because our infancy is blotted out by the flood of forgetfulness.

³And God said: Be light made. And light was made.

v.3

VERS. 3.-- « And God said: Let there be light. » The light made on the first day is understood as spiritual or corporeal, etc., *as far as* the beginning of a morning to come. But if corporeal light was made on the first day, fittingly is the adorning of the world begun from light, by which the rest, which were to be created, might be seen. But if it be asked: where was it made, since the deep covered the whole height of the earth? it is plain that it was made in those parts which the daily light of the sun now illumines. Nor is it a wonder that light can shine in waters, since they are even oftentimes lit up by the working of sailors, who, plunged in the deep, having let oil out of the mouth, light up the waters for themselves: which waters in the beginning were far rarer than they now are, because they were not yet gathered into one place. « And God said: Let there be light. » Not temporally: for if temporally, then changeably also; if changeably, then also through a subject creature, and light is not the first creature. But perhaps, etc., *as far as* that it may be and that it may abide. « Let there be light. » On that condition, namely, by which all things subsist timelessly in the wisdom of God before they subsist in themselves. « And light was made, » that is, the angelic and heavenly substance, in itself temporally; as it was in wisdom, so far as regards his unchangeableness, eternally. Or there is noted the formlessness, namely, and the imperfection of this creature before it was formed in the love of its Founder: for it is formed when it is turned to the unchangeable light of the Word. « Let there be light. » If light was made corporeally, etc., *as far as* for there were not yet animals to which this vicissitude might be exhibited.

⁴And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.

⁵And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day.

v.5

VERS. 5.--.... « And the evening was made, » etc. In no wise in this life is sin so forsaken by the exercise of justice that one may abide in it unshaken: because, if uprightness drives out guilt, guilt sits at the doors of our thought and knocks, that it may be opened to it. Whence Moses says: « Light was made; » and a little after: « The evening was made. » For the Creator, foreknowing man's guilt, expressed then in time what is now busied in the mind. For the shadow of temptation follows the light of uprightness. But because the light of the elect is not put out by temptation, not night but evening is recorded to have been made, because temptation hides the light of justice, it does not destroy it. It is to be noted that the other creatures, etc., *as far as* that the one, namely, may belong to the day, this to the evening.

⁶And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters.

v.6

VERS. 6.--... « Let there be a firmament, » etc. The angelic powers which stood fast in the love of God received this in retribution, that they should abide in the contemplation of their Founder in everlasting happiness, and should subsist eternally in that wherein they were founded. Whence in Moses the heaven is said to have been made, and the same is afterwards called the firmament, because the angelic nature was first founded subtle in the higher places, and afterwards, that it might never be able to fall, was more wonderfully confirmed. « Let there be a firmament, » etc. It is asked whether that heaven which exceeds the spaces of the air is now made, etc., *as far as* because its interval divides between certain vapours of the waters and the waters which are on the earth. « Let there be a firmament, » etc. It is to be noted that the firmament is not so called on account of standing still, etc., *as far as* but in whatever manner they are there, that they are there we do not doubt. « Let there be a firmament in the midst. » Of the heaven, in which the stars are fixed, etc., *as far as* But of what sort they are, and for what they are useful, he knows who founded them.

⁷And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.

v.7

VERS. 7.-- « And God made the firmament, » etc. It is asked why, when he had said: « Let there be a firmament, and it was so done, » he afterwards adds: « And God made the firmament, » etc., *as far as* saying: « And God said, Let it be made, » etc. Above the air is pure fire, etc., *as far as* The nearness of the supercelestial waters therefore makes it cold. But it is to be noted that on the first day, when light was made, it was said only: « Let there be light, » and this in the word, and « light was made, » in the work, and straightway the created light clave to the uncreated light, as nearer to it and more capacious than every creature. On the second day there is a certain delay, and a multiplying of words, « let it be made, » and « God made, » and « it was so done »: that we may understand these natures to be prone to fail, and less apt to obey. It is also to be noted that the works of this second day are not said, according to the Hebrews, to be good, although they are good like the rest: which comes about on account of the binary number, the chief of alternation, which first departs from unity: and it is set as a figure of bigamy and of many reprehensible things; whence the things which enter into the ark two by two are unclean, an odd number clean. Or they are not said to be good for this reason, that in this work the separation of the water is not made perfect, which is made in the next, where he says: « Let the waters be gathered together, » as will be said there. It is wont to be asked of what shape the heaven is: but the Holy Spirit, although our authors knew, did not will to teach through them save what profits salvation. It is also asked: does the heaven stand still, or is it moved? If it is moved, they say, how is it a firmament? If it stands still, how do the stars fixed in it go round? But the firmament can be so called not on account of standing still, but on account of firmness, or the untransgressible boundary of the waters. But if it stands still, nothing hinders the stars from being moved and going round. On the second day there was made as it were the firmament of discipline, which distinguishes between carnal and spiritual things, as between the lower and the higher waters. On the second day he set the firmament, that is, the holy Scriptures in the Church. Of which it is said, Isa. XXXIV: « The heaven shall be folded together like a book. » By this firmament he divides the higher waters, that is, the people of the angels, for whom there is no need that they should hear the word of God in reading. But he set that firmament above the infirmity of the lower peoples, that looking up at it they may know how it distinguishes between carnal and spiritual things, as it were between the higher and the lower waters. « And he divided the waters which were, » etc. When thou hearest these things, why dost thou marvel if above the firmament a wave could be hung? etc., *as far as* Jordan also, its stream turned back, returns into its own spring.

⁸And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day.

⁹God also said; Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done.

v.9

VERS. 9.-- « And God said, » etc. On this day it seems to have been done, etc., *as far as* Whence the water is gathered together, the earth appears; for water is slippery and flowing, earth stable and fixed. « Let the waters be gathered together? » The waters which had filled all things between heaven and earth are gathered into one place, that the light, which in the two days past had lit up the waters with a clear light, might shine brighter in the pure air; and that the earth might appear, which lay hidden; and that what was slimy with waters might become dry and apt for shoots. If it be asked where the waters were gathered together which had covered all parts of the earth up to the heaven, it could come about that the earth, subsiding, afforded hollow parts by which it might receive the floating waters: it can also be believed that the first waters were rarer, which covered the lands like a cloud, but that by the gathering they were thickened.

¹⁰And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

v.10

VERS. 10.-- « And God called the dry land Earth. » Before, for the distinguishing of the waters, he called the whole more solid part of the world earth, saying: « In the beginning God created heaven and earth. » After the world now begins to be formed, and the face of the earth appears, the waters withdrawing, for the distinguishing of the part which was still pressed down by the waters, the portion which it was permitted to be dry received the name of earth, in that it is trodden by the feet. « And the gatherings together of the waters he called Seas. » For so among the Hebrews all gatherings of waters are called, whether salt or sweet. And because, by the continuity of all the waters which are on the earth, he said that they were gathered into one place, he now calls them in the plural the gatherings of waters, on account of their manifold bays. Although it is agreed that there are many seas, yet he says the waters were gathered into one place, because all are joined to the great sea. If any lakes seem to be shut up in themselves, yet by hidden passages they are rolled back into the sea: the diggers of wells also prove this, because all the ground is filled with waters through invisible veins, whose beginning is from the sea.

¹¹And he said: let the earth bring forth green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done.

v.11

VERS. 11.-- « And he said: Let the earth bring forth, » etc. The governance of the Ordainer is to be marked: although the creature of herbs and of trees is distinct from the kind of the lands and of the waters, so that they cannot be numbered among the elements: yet because, fixed by their roots, they are bound to the earth, he willed them to belong to the same day. It is plain from these words that the world was perfected and adorned in the springtime, in which green herbs are wont to appear, and trees laden with fruits. And at the same time it is to be noted that the first shoots of herbs or kinds of trees came forth not from seed, but from the earth: because at one command of the Founder there appeared the dry land trimmed with herbs and clothed with groves, which of themselves brought forth the fruits and seeds of their own kind. For it behoved that the form of things should come forth perfect at God's first command: as man, for whose sake are all things, was fashioned in a youthful age. It is also asked concerning thorns, and thistles, and certain unfruitful trees, why or when they were created? since God said: « Let the earth bring forth the green herb, » etc. But by the name of fruit a certain usefulness is signified: and there are many usefulnesses, manifest or hidden, of all the things which the earth nourishes by their roots. We can, however, answer without qualification that after sin the earth brought forth thorns and thistles for man's labour: not that they were born elsewhere before, and afterwards in the fields which man tilled: but before and afterwards in the same places, yet before not for man, but afterwards. Whence « it shall bring forth to thee, » that is, that there should begin to be born for thee unto labour the things which before were born only for the food of other animals. « Making seed. » All things were created perfect, and man was perfect in age, and the trees with leaves and fruit: whence this is called a « tree bearing fruit. »

¹²And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

v.12

VERS. 12.-- « And the earth brought forth the herb, » etc. What history testifies was truly so done, that it might signify something else to be done. For the earth is the Church, which refreshes us with the food of the word, and guards us with the shade of its patronage: by speaking it feeds, by helping it protects; so that it may bring forth not only the herb of refreshment, but also the tree of protection.-- « And the tree. » The tree brought forth seed according to its own kind, when our mind gathers from the consideration of itself what it should do toward another, and bears the shoot of upright work. Hence a certain wise man says: « What thou wouldest not have done to thee, do not thou to another. » And elsewhere: « Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also the same to them. » As if to say, look upon one another as your own species, and know from your own selves what it behoves you to show to others.

¹³And the evening and the morning were the third day.

v.13

VERS. 13.-- « And the evening and the morning were made. » The morning of the third day begins from Abraham, etc., *as far as* The evening in the sins of the people, by which they were transgressing the divine commandments, until the wickedness of Saul. On the third day he gathered together the lower and salt waters, that is, the unbelievers, shaking themselves with the waves of concupiscences and of temptations: and he set apart from them the dry land, that is, the faithful thirsting for the fountain of faith. But the unbelievers he restrained, lest with the waves of their iniquity they should trouble the dry land, that is, the soul thirsting for God, but that it might be free for it to bring forth the fruits of good works, and to love its neighbour, so that it may have in itself seed according to its own likeness; that is, that out of its own weakness it may have compassion on another in need, and may produce a strong fruit-bearing tree, that is, a beneficent one, by rescuing the oppressed and affording him the shade of its protection.

¹⁴And 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:

v.14

VERS. 14.-- « But God said: Let there be luminaries, » etc. Because to the constituting of the visible world two days are assigned, namely to the highest and the lowest part of the world: to the visible and movable parts of the world, which are created within the world, the three remaining ones were allotted, etc., *as far as* unto the inchoation, or principate, of the night, which comes about when she is full. And let them divide the day. » By that division, namely, that the sun should light the day, the moon the night. For this was added, when the stars were made, to the increase of the first light, that the night also might come forth luminous, irradiated by the splendour of the moon or of the stars, which hitherto had known darkness only. And although the night seems dark because the air which is nearest to the lands is darkened, yet the higher spaces of the air are always bright with the brightness of the stars. It is wont to be asked whether these luminaries are bodies only, or have ruling spirits, and are breathed upon by them vitally, as flesh is animated through the souls of animals. But concerning so obscure a matter nothing is rashly to be believed. « And let them be for signs, » etc. Because before the stars were made, the order of the times was marked by no tokens, neither the midday hour nor any other. The luminaries therefore are « for signs, » etc.; not that from the founding of these the times, or the days, or the years began; but because by their risings, or their passings, the order of times, of days and of years is marked.

¹⁵To shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth, and it was so done.

¹⁶And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night: and the stars.

v.16

VERS. 16.-- « God made two luminaries. » We can take them to be great luminaries, not so much by comparison with others as in themselves; as the heaven is called great, and the sea great. For the sun is called great, because it fills the globe of the earth with its heat: as does the moon with its light, which, in whatever part of the heaven they may be, illumine the whole earth, and are seen by all. A great argument of their greatness is that to all men the same orb of them appears: for if it were smaller to those placed afar and greater to those near, it would be an indication of littleness. « The greater luminary, » etc. The sun, namely, not only in the form of its body, but in the greatness of its light, because it lights up the lesser luminary and the stars. It is greater also in heat, because it warms the world, whereas in the days past before its creation it had had no heat. But that the moon is discerned to be of equal and of one greatness with the sun, they say comes of this, that the sun goes far more distant from the lands and higher than the moon, and therefore the sun's greatness cannot be discerned by us. For all things set farther off appear smaller. « And the lesser luminary, » etc. And although it sometimes happens that the moon and the greater stars are seen by day, yet it is agreed that they bring the solace of their light not to the day, but to the night. For then, at the beginning of the night, the moon is seen, when she is full, at other times not: and by day she begins to be seen before her fulness, and in the progress of the night. VERS. 17, 18--.... « That they might shine, » etc. These things can be understood of the great luminaries and of the stars; so that what is said, « that they might rule the day, » should belong specially to the sun, what is subjoined, « and the night, » to the moon and the stars; but what is added, « that they might divide the light and the darkness, » should suit all alike; which, wheresoever they go, carry light about them; whence, when they are absent, they leave all things dark. If it be asked what the daylight could have been like before the creation of the stars, we answer, such as we see when the rising of the sun is at hand, but it does not yet appear: when, namely, the day shines with the dulled rays of the stars, but the risen sun by no means blazes forth. On the fourth day the luminaries glittered in the firmament of heaven, etc., *as far as* because after good works there comes the illumination by which the species of the supernal truth is seen. On the fourth day, on which in that firmament of discipline the mind works and distinguishes spiritual understandings, it sees what is the unchangeable truth, which shines like the sun in the soul; and how the soul is made partaker of it, and bestows order and beauty upon the body, as the moon lighting the night. And how all the stars, that is, spiritual understandings, shine in the obscurity of this life as it were in the night.

¹⁷And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth.

¹⁸And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

¹⁹And the evening and morning were the fourth day.

²⁰God also said: let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven.

v.20

VERS. 20.-- « God also said, » etc. After the face of heaven had been adorned on the fourth day with luminaries, the lower parts of the world, namely water and air, are adorned on the fifth day with their own living things. « God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping thing, » etc. *(AUG., lib. II de Gen. ad litt., ex c. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 et 6, tom. III.)* It behoved, in the creating of the inhabitants of the lower part, etc., *as far as* Which is not to be understood save of such as have been turned into the nature of the waters by the quality of a thicker air. « Of a living soul. » That is, the things which are in living souls, as it is said: "The ignoble things of men," that is, those who among men are ignoble. Which some think was said on account of their slowness of sense, or because fishes are of no memory; but it is most certain that they have memory. Concerning the conversion of the elements there is a question. Some say that all things can be turned into all things, etc., *as far as* for that we feel the waters and the winds by touch; hence it is that the solid earth is mingled with all the elements, but in these thicker ones it is felt more. « Under the firmament », etc. Even though there lies between an immense space, yet the birds which fly above the earth fly under the starry heaven: just as men who are on the earth are said to be under heaven. Another translation: « Beside the firmament of heaven, » because the spaces of this air which bears up the birds are neighbours to the ether. It is to be noted that certain philosophers have so distributed the animals to each element, etc., *as far as* yet they have been permitted to hold only the misty places of the air, which is to them as it were a prison until the time of judgment.

²¹And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

v.21

VERS. 21.-- « And God created the great whales, » etc. Boys need now bugbears, now straps also and rods: by the former we frighten them, by the latter we instruct them: Since therefore God perceived that we too are prone to sloth, he founded the beasts, as it were certain straps and bugbears, that by frightening us with them he might draw us to himself, and that we might implore his help. But as those who are perfect despise bugbears of this sort, and straps; so those who have been brought up in virtue do not dread the onsets of beasts. Indeed the beasts stood by Adam before he had sinned, professing their obedience. And again the lion, the leopard, and all the fiercest of the beasts followed Noah himself as he entered the ark, after the manner of sheep. And the lions were present with Daniel, who, though otherwise famished, yet did not dare to approach him, because they beheld in him the characters that bore before them the divine image. Likewise the viper, which had fastened its teeth in the hand of the Apostle, when it had found nothing in him tender or soft to sin, straightway leapt back and cast itself into the fire, exacting after a fashion punishment of itself, because it had attacked a body in no wise suited to it. But we for this cause dread the beasts, because we neglect virtue. Moreover the beasts are not useless to us for other things either: for out of them physicians compound not a few medicines for driving away diseases: let no one therefore, considering the beasts, complain of the Creator, but let him search out their usefulness. « And every soul, » etc. In distinction from man, who was to be made to the image of God, and, if he kept the commandments, would remain in perpetual unchangeableness. But the other animals were so made that some should yield to others for nourishment, or should fail through age.

²²And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth.

²³And the evening and morning were the fifth day.

²⁴And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so done.

v.24

VERS. 24.-- « God also said: Let the « earth bring forth, » etc. After the heaven was filled with stars and the air with flying things, which on account of its nearness is called heaven, etc., *as far as* under the name of four-footed beasts all things are comprehended except the beasts and the creeping things, whether tamed, or wild and of the fields. « Let the earth bring forth, » etc. It followed that he should now adorn the earth with its own animals. By saying three times, according to its own kind, etc., *as far as* And under the name of cattle and of beasts every irrational animal is wont to be comprehended. « In its own kind. » These things are perhaps said according to kind, because they so arose that others are born of them, and preserve by succession the form of their origin. But of man this was not said, because one was being made, of whom the woman also was made. For there were not made many kinds of men, as of herbs and of trees; so that it should be said, according to its own kind, as if it were said kind by kind, that among things alike, and belonging to one origin of seed, they might be distinguished from the rest. Concerning certain minute animals there is a question, etc., *as far as* except that they were fore-sown in them potentially and materially. Concerning venomous and destructive creatures it is asked, etc., *as far as* all which, rightly considered, are praised. This also moves us, etc., *as far as* but let them not doubt to prepare the numbers of a godly fortitude for all things. Let us not despise the beasts, as being altogether unharmed by them, as though they were of no strength. Sometimes God permits two or three out of many thousands either to be stung by scorpions or bitten by serpents; that we, fearing lest we should suffer anything like, may call upon God the Creator for help. It is asked why there was not added here what was said of the animals of the waters: « And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, » etc. Perhaps because what had been said of the first creature of a living soul, he left to be understood of the second, especially because in the works of this day he was about to say many other things. But herbs and trees, because they have not the affection of generating, he perhaps judged unworthy of this blessing. Which was of necessity repeated in man, lest anyone should think that there is sin in the office of begetting sons, as in fornication without wedlock.

²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

v.25

VERS. 25.-- « And God made the beasts of the earth, » etc. It is a change of order. Nor need we care in our own speech which of the creatures we name first in order, since God created all things together. On the sixth day the earth brings forth the living soul, when our flesh, abstaining from dead works, brings forth living shoots of the virtues, according to its own kind, that is, by imitating the life of the saints. Whence I Cor. IV: « Be imitators of me, » etc. We live according to our own kind when we imitate the saints as our neighbours. The earth brings forth beasts, that is, men growing proud in ferocity. And cattle, that is, those living simply. And serpents, namely the crafty, and those who discern good from evil, and who as it were by creeping search out earthly things, through which they may understand the heavenly.

²⁶And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth.

v.26

VERS. 26.-- « Let us make man. » There is intimated the plurality of the persons of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and straightway the unity of the deity, when it is said: « And God made man to the image of God, » not the Father to the image of the Son only. For it would not truly be said, to our image; but it was so said: « God made man to the image of God, » as if it were said « to his own image. » But when it is said « to the image of God, » whereas it was said above « to our image, » it is signified that the plurality of persons does not bring it about that we should believe in many gods, but that we should receive the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one God. « Let us make man. » It appears why it was said that the rest should be made, etc., *as far as* but that he might show that he had received back true flesh after death. « And let him rule, » etc. It is also to be noted that, when he had said « to our image, » he immediately subjoined: « And let him rule over the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air. » That we may understand, namely, that man was made to the image of God in this, wherein he excels the irrational creatures. And that is reason, or mind, or understanding, or if it be more conveniently called by another name, that, namely, wherein he cleaves to the truth that is to be contemplated.

²⁷And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.

v.27

VERS. 27.-- « And God created man to the image, » etc. He who, not by imitating any of the saints whatever, but by gazing upon truth itself, works justice, so that he may understand truth itself and follow it: he has received power over all things, because everyone made spiritual, and like to God, judges all things, and is himself judged by no man. « And God created, » etc. It is to be noted that, as in the creating of light it is said: « Let there be light, » and straightway there follows, « and light was made; » so when it is said: « Let us make man, » there is brought in, « and God made man to the image of God: » because that nature is intellectual, as that light was: and this is for it to be made, namely to acknowledge the Word through which it is made. etc., *as far as* but fore-sown materially. « Male and female he created them, » etc. Afterwards it is set forth more fully both whence and in what manner men were made, etc., *as far as* although virginity be preferred. After these things « God made man to his own image and likeness, » a perfect man, namely, etc., *as far as* whence Paul: « We have sown unto you spiritual things, it is a great matter if we reap your carnal things. »

²⁸And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.

²⁹And God said: Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat:

³⁰And to all beasts of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to all that move upon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they may have to feed upon. And it was so done.

³¹And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.

v.31

VERS. 31.-- « And God saw, » etc. It is asked: since the rest are severally called good, why is man, made to the image of God, said to be this along with the rest? But perhaps God foreknew that he would sin, and would not remain in the perfection of the image. For he who is good severally, is more so with all, but it is not convertible. It was therefore cautiously provided that there should be said what would be true in the present, and would signify the foreknowledge of the future. But God ordered all things so that, if any severally should by transgressing be deformed, yet always with them the whole should be beautiful. « And the evening and the morning were made, » etc. The morning of the sixth day is the preaching of the Gospel through Christ, etc., *as far as* which has no evening. *Morally.* On the sixth day the earth brings forth the living soul, that is, man, out of the stability of his mind, where he has spiritual fruits, that is, good thoughts; he governs all the motions of his soul, so that there may be in him a living soul, that is, one serving reason and justice, not earthliness and sin. So man is made to the image and likeness of God, male and female; that is, understanding and action: by whose coupling a spiritual offspring may fill the earth, that is, may subject the flesh, and the other things which have already been said in the perfection of man. For in these days the evening is the very perfecting of the several works, and the morning the beginning of those that follow.

Genesis 1

Before the first verse