Chapter XIX.—Man is Placed in Paradise.

God having thus completed the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all that are in them, on the sixth day, rested on the seventh day from all His works which He made. Then holy Scripture gives a summary in these words: “This is the book of the generation of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and every green thing of the field, before it was made, and every herb of the field before it grew. For God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”64    Gen. ii. 4, 5. By this He signifies to us, that the whole earth was at that time watered by a divine fountain, and had no need that man should till it; but the earth produced all things spontaneously by the command of God, that man might not be wearied by tilling it. But that the creation of man might be made plain, so that there should not seem to be an insoluble problem existing among men, since God had said, “Let Us make man;” and since His creation was not yet plainly related, Scripture teaches us, saying: “And a fountain went up out of the earth, and watered the face of the whole earth; and God made man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”65    Gen. ii. 7. [The Hebrew must not be overlooked: “the breath of lives,” spiraculum vitarum; on which see Bartholinus, in Delitzsch, System of Bib. Psychol., p. 27. Also, Luther’s Trichotomy, ibid., p. 460. With another work of similar character I am only slightly acquainted, but, recall with great satisfaction a partial examination of it when it first appeared. I refer to The Tripartite Nature of Man, by the Rev J. B. Heard, M.A. 3d ed. Edinburgh, 1871, T. & T. Clark.] Whence also by most persons the soul is called immortal.66    [But compare Tatian (cap. xiii. p. 70), and the note of the Parisian editors in margin (p. 152), where they begin by distinctions to make him orthodox, but at last accuse him of downright heresy. Ed. Paris, 1615.] And after the formation of man, God chose out for him a region among the places of the East, excellent for light, brilliant with a very bright atmosphere, [abundant] in the finest plants; and in this He placed man.

Oὕτως συντελέσας ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατέπαυσεν ἐν τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ ὧν ἐποίησεν. εἶθ' οὕτως ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται λέγουσα ἡ ἁγία γραφή· Ἅὕτη βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτε ἐγένετο ἡμέρᾳ ᾗ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ πᾶν χλωρὸν ἀγροῦ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι, καὶ πάντα χόρτον ἀγροῦ πρὸ τοῦ ἀνατεῖλαι· οὐ γὰρ ἔβρεξεν ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἦν ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν γῆν.” διὰ τούτου ἐμήνυσεν ἡμῖν ὅτι καὶ ἡ γῆ πᾶσα κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ἐποτίζετο ὑπὸ πηγῆς θείας, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν χρείαν ἐργάζεσθαι αὐτὴν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα αὐτοματισμῷ ἀνέφυεν ἡ γῆ κατὰ τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς τὸ μὴ κοπιᾶν ἐργαζόμενον τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ὅπως δὲ καὶ ἡ πλάσις δειχθῇ, πρὸς τὸ μὴ δοκεῖν εἶναι ζήτημα ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀνεύρετον, ἐπειδὴ εἴρητο ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ· “Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον” καὶ οὔπω ἡ πλάσις αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται, διδάσκει ἡμᾶς ἡ γραφὴ λέγουσα· “Πηγὴ δὲ ἀνέβαινεν ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπότιζεν πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.” ὅθεν καὶ ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχὴ ὠνόμασται παρὰ τοῖς πλείοσι. μετὰ δὲ τὸ πλάσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ θεὸς ἐξελέξατο αὐτῷ χωρίον ἐν τοῖς τόποις τοῖς ἀνατολικοῖς, διάφορον φωτί, διαυγὲς ἀέρι λαμπροτέρῳ, φυτοῖς παγκάλοις, ἐν ᾧ ἔθετο τὸν ἄνθρωπον.