The Wonderful Workmanship of the World, Discourse · Chapter 21
The. xxi. Chapter. What God created firſt, to bee the matter for thinges that were created afterward.
S.
HEtherto you hauehave diſcourſed of the efficiēt cauſe, now ſaye ſumwhat concernyng the materiall cauſe of the world.
M.
What matter can I name vntounto you, ſince there was none at all, as I hauehave ſufficiently diſputed and proued beefore? as this woord, Create, declareth, if you hauehave regarde to it owne proper ſignification. Neither do I thinke it woorth the traueill to confute the opinions of the Philoſopers, who hauehave almoſte euerie one of them ſtūbled at this block: or elſe to conuince the hereſie of the Hermogenians, who reuoked that errour, whiche was nowe long ſince extinguiſhed in the Churche of God, out of the ſcooles and opinions of the Stoikes: and choſe rather to learne how the world beegan, at the handes of naturall Philoſophers than of true Chriſtians, and out of Gods woord. Al whoſe argumentes, Tertullian hath confuted in a noble and profitable woorke, whiche is now abroade in mens handes, and is moſt worthie to bee read.
S.
I doe not require after that which was not, but this rather, whether that among thoſe thinges whiche God created of nothing, there were any thing diſpoſed, prepared, and brought foorth, that afterward ſerued the turne, and ſtoode in ſteede in the creation of other things, out of which God did afterward facion and fourme al thinges elſe that remained to be made?
M.
You mooue mee to enter into a difficult queſtion, which conſiſteth both of like number of weightie reaſons, and of auctorities of graue writers. For among the learned auctours, ſome thinke that Heauen and earth, of whiche in the 1. chapt. of Geneſis, and 1. verſe it is writen, In the beginnyng God made heauen and earth, were made by God of nothyng: howbeit, firſt, and before all thinges, to the intent that they might be the prepared matter of all other thinges that were to be afterward created. And therfore, they ſay, that God did nothyng the other daies following, but onelyonly diſtinguyſh this matter and maſſe which was firſt confuſedly brought foorth, and conteined in it the ſeedes of all other thinges into the proper kindes and elementes, and that euerie thing ſhould be trimmed foorth in it owne kind, and gouerned by it owne lawe. Other dooe ſuppoſe otherwiſe, that theſe thinges were only ſet downe in the beginning, as it were, in maner of a preface or ſuppoſition of ſome diſcourſe that ſhould enſue, to the end that the ſumme of the whole matter following might be the better vnderſtoode, and the boundes of ſo great a frame as the world is, bee drawne foorth. In like maner, cunning Carpenters when they are about to build ſome goodly and large houſe, they firſte drawe out a platfourme in certeine proportions and lines, conteining the fourme of the whole woork that ſhalbee, to the intent, they may point out and place the other roomthes of the buildyng within that circuite, & ſo conteine themſelues within thoſe limites. Thus, ſay they, heauen and earth are propoſed by Moſes, and that in the beeginning of his Narration, to the ende, wee might vnderſtande what limites the diſcription following, and the whole woorke ſhould hauehave: Like as he alſo repeateth again thoſe limites after the narration of the creation, & concludeth the whole woorke whiche hee ſet foorth, after the ſame manner. Geneſis the 2. chapter, and 1. verſe. Wherefore, In the beginnyng God created heauen and earth, that is to ſaye, firſte of all the ſumme of all Gods woorkes is layd beefore vsus to bee thought on. Moreouer, Ireneus in his 2. booke, the 10. 11. and 16. chapters, ſheweth that GOD is not like men, as not hauing neede of any matter that hee had created or prepared before hand, to finiſh or make his other woorkes of.
S.
Howe then, doe you thinke otherwiſe?
M.
Truely, the interpretation and opinion of the fyrſte ſorte ſeemeth vntounto mee the more probable, which hold that the heauen and earth (in ſuche maner as thei are there ſpoken of) were firſte created by GOD of nothing, howbeit as it were, a rude matter of the whole woorke and bewtie that ſhoulde folowe, out of which God by his mightie power brought foorth all the reſidue. Although almightie God lacked no matter to create firſte heauen and earth with all, neither yet to bring forthe the woorkes of the other daies, like as at this day alſo he needeth not the ſeede of man to bryng foorth men of, if hee luſt to doe otherwiſe: notwithſtanding in theſe queſtions wee muſt not enquire how much hee was able to doe, ſayeth S. Auguſtine in his 2. booke de Geneſi, but rather what ye courſe of nature in things will ſuffer, and what his pleaſure is, and what hee hath reuealed vntounto vsus by his woorde. Neither doth this mine opinion want iuſt and ſufficient confirmation, either of the auctoritie of men, or of reaſon. And as for auctoritie there is none againſt mee, ſeeing bothe Philo Iudaeus, and the Rabbines commonly, and the beſt learned of the Hebrues doe ſo expounde that place of Moſes: yea, S. Auguſtine alſo oftentimes, as in the 5. booke de Ge neſi ad Literam, the 3. and 5. chapters: and the 1. booke, the 5. chapter. S. Ambroſe likewiſe in Examero, and S. Chryſoſtome, and S. Baſile, with others.
S.
But can you confirme your opinion by any reaſon?
M.
Yea, by twaine. And the firſt is, that this expoſition doth very well agree with Moſes woordes, and order: and againe, that it ſeemeth to be plainly confirmed by this woord Beeginning, and the ſignification therof. For a beeginning is ſayd in compariſon of other thinges. And therefore, to the intent hee might ſhewe how all other thinges were made afterwarde out of thoſe twayne, Moſes plainly vſeth this preface, to wit, that the ſame heauen, and the ſame earth were created in the beeginning, that is to ſaye, beefore all the other woorkes that God made, and alſo to the vſe of all the other, that is to ſaie, from whence afterward the reſidue were taken, and as it were, made. The very footſteppes, as it were, of whiche opinion, howbeeit the trueth beeyng now and then manifeſtly intercepted, do appeare to be exſtant in Heſiodus in his Theogonia, and Ouid alſo in that place of the firſte booke of his Metamorphoſis, which is ſo well knowne: Beefore the Sea and Earth, &c. This reaſon alſo may bee alleaged, that the thing itſelf, and ſpecially the earth, is thus deſcribed vntounto vsus, and is called by Moſes Tohu and Bohu: whereby it appeareth that there was a certein Maſſe, ſtuffe, and matter prepared by GOD, for the world that ſhould afterwarde bee made, whiche was then firſte onelyonly, and not prepared from euerlaſting. Yea, it cannot bee denied but that at that tyme there was ſome confuſion euen in heauen, when as the heauenly and earthly ſubſtances were not as yet diſtinguiſhed & ſeparated one from another, whiche at length was brought too paſſe. And that alſo there was no beutie, nor brightnes as yet in heauen, neither was there any light ſhining therein. Howbeeit that confuſion was greater vponupon the earth. And therefore in reſpect thereof it was called Tohu and Bohu.