Chapter XXII.—This Conclusion Confirmed by the Usage of Holy Scripture in Its History of the Creation.  Hermogenes in Danger of the Woe Pronounced Against Adding to Scripture.

And to such a degree has the Holy Ghost made this the rule of His Scripture, that whenever anything is made out of anything, He mentions both the thing that is made and the thing of which it is made. “Let the earth,” says He, “bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, after its kind. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind.”210    Gen. i. 11, 12. And again:  “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life, and fowl that may fly above the earth through the firmament of heaven. And it was so. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind.”211    Gen. i. 20, 21. Again afterwards: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beasts of the earth after their kind.”212    Ver. 24. If therefore God, when producing other things out of things which had been already made, indicates them by the prophet, and tells us what He has produced from such and such a source213    Quid unde protulerit: properly a double question ="what was produced, and whence?” (although we might ourselves suppose them to be derived from some source or other, short of nothing;214    Unde unde…dumne. since there had already been created certain things, from which they might easily seem to have been made); if the Holy Ghost took upon Himself so great a concern for our instruction, that we might know from what everything was produced,215    Quid unde processerit: properly a double question ="what was produced, and whence?” would He not in like manner have kept us well informed about both the heaven and the earth, by indicating to us what it was that He made them of, if their original consisted of any material substance, so that the more He seemed to have made them of nothing, the less in fact was there as yet made, from which He could appear to have made them?  Therefore, just as He shows us the original out of which He drew such things as were derived from a given source, so also with regard to those things of which He does not point out whence He produced them, He confirms (by that silence our assertion) that they were produced out of nothing. “In the beginning,” then, “God made the heaven and the earth.”216    Gen. i. 1. I revere217    Adoro: reverently admire. the fulness of His Scripture, in which He manifests to me both the Creator and the creation. In the gospel, moreover, I discover a Minister and Witness of the Creator, even His Word.218    John i. 3. But whether all things were made out of any underlying Matter, I have as yet failed anywhere to find. Where such a statement is written, Hermogenes’ shop219    Officina. must tell us. If it is nowhere written, then let it fear the woe which impends on all who add to or take away from the written word.220    Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

CAPUT XXII.

Atque adeo Spiritus Sanctus hanc Scripturae suae rationem constituit, ut cum quid ex aliquo sit, et unde sit referat. Fruticet , inquit, terra herbam foeni, seminantem semen secundum genus, et secundum similitudinem, et lignum fructuosum faciens fructum, cujus semen in ipso in similitudinem. Et factum est sic. Et produxit terra herbam foeni seminantem semen secundum genus, et lignum fructuosum faciens fructum, cujus semen in ipso in similitudinem. Et rursus: Et dixit 0217B Deus: Producant aquae repentia animarum vivarum, et volatilia volantia super terram per firmamentum coeli. Et factum est sic. Et fecit Deus cetos magnos, et omnem animam animalium repentium, quae produxerunt aquae secundum genus ipsorum. Item post haec: Et dixit Deus: Producat terra animam viventem secundum genus, quadrupedia et repentia, et bestias terrae, secundum genus ipsorum (Genes., cap. I, v. 11 et seqq.). Si ergo ex jam factis rebus, alias res Deus proferens, ostendit per prophetam, et dicit quid unde protulerit (quamquam possimus unde illas prolatas aestimare , dum ne ex nihilo; jam enim facta erant quaedam, ex quibus prolatae videri possent): si tantam curam instructionis nostrae insumpsit Spiritus sanctus, ut sciremus quid unde processerit, nonne 0217C proinde nos et de coelo et de terra compotes reddidisset, significando unde ea esset operatus, si de aliqua materia origo constaret illorum? ut tanto magis ex nihilo ea videretur operatus, quanto nihil adhuc 0218A erat factum, ex quo operatus videretur. Itaque sicut ea quae de aliquo prolata sunt, ostendit unde prolata sint: ita quae non ostendit unde prolata sint, ex nihilo prolata confirmat. Igitur in principio Deus fecit coelum et terram. Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem, qua mihi et factorem manifestat et facta. In Evangelio vero amplius et ministrum atque arbitrum rectoris invenio sermonem. An autem de aliqua subjacenti materia facta sint omnia, nusquam adhuc legi. Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis officina. Si non est scriptum, timeat vae illud, adjicientibus aut detrahentibus destinatum (Apoc. XXII, 18, 19).