Edition Hide
Confessiones

Caput 22

Cum enim duabus istis extremis sententiis resistere quisquam ita temptaverit: si non vultis hanc informitatem materiae caeli et terrae nomine appellatam videri, erat ergo aliquid, quod non fecerat deus, unde caelum et terram faceret; neque enim scriptura narravit, quod istam materiem deus fecerit, nisi intellegamus eam caeli et terrae aut solius terrae vocabulo significatam, cum diceretur: in principio fecit deus caelum et terram, ut id, quod sequitur: terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, quamvis informem materiam sic placuerit appellare, non tamen intellegamus nisi eam, quam fecit deus in eo, quod perscriptum est: fecit caelum et terram, respondebunt assertores duarum istarum sententiarum, quas extremas posuimus, aut illius aut illius, cum haec audierint, et dicent: informem quidem istam materiam non negamus a deo factam, deo, a quo sunt omnia bona valde, quid, sicut dicimus amplius bonum esse quod creatum atque formatum est, ita fatemur minus bonum esse quod factum est creabile atque formabile, sed tamen bonum: non autem conmemorasse scripturam, quod hanc informitatem fecerit deus, sicut alia multa non commemoravit, ut Cherubim et Seraphim, et quae apostolus distincte ait, sedes, dominationes, principatus, potestates, quae tamen omnia deum fecisse manifestum est. aut si in eo, quod dictum est: fecit caelum et terram, comprehensa sunt omnia, quid de aquis dicimus, super quas ferebatur spiritus dei? si enim terra nominata simul intelleguntur, quomodo iam terrae nomine materies informis accipitur, quando tam speciosas aquas videmus? aut si ita accipitur, cur ex eadem informitate scriptum est factum firmamentum et vocatum caelum, neque scriptum est factas esse aquas? non enim adhuc informes sunt et invisae, quas ita decora specie fluere cernimus. aut si tunc acceperunt istam speciem, cum dixit deus: congregatio sit ipsa formatio, quid respondebitur de aquis, quae super firmamentum sunt, quia neque informes tam honorabilem sedem accipere meruissent, nec scriptum est, qua voce formatae sint? unde si aliquid Genesis tacuit deum fecisse, quod tamen deum fecisse nec sana fides nec certus ambigit intellectus, nec ideo ulla sobria doctrina dicere audebit istas aquas coaeternas deo, quia in libro Geneseos commemoratas quidem audimus, ubi autem factae sint, non invenimus, cur non informem quoque illam materiam, quam scriptura haec terram invisibilem et incompositam tenebrosamque abyssum appellat, docente veritate intellegamus ex deo factam esse de nihlo ideoque illi non esse coaeternam, quamvis ubi facta sit omiserit enuntiare ista narratio?

Translation Hide
The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books

Chapter 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 invisible. 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?"