For the case is different from that of men endowed by nature with practical ability, where you may look at capability and execution apart from each other. For example, we say of a man who possesses the art of shipbuilding, that he is always a shipbuilder in respect of his ability to build ships, but that he operates only when he displays his skill in working. It is otherwise with God; for all that we can conceive as in Him is entirely work and action, His will passing over immediately to its object. As, then, the mechanism of the heavens testifies to the glory of their Creator and confesses Him Who made them, and needs no voice for the purpose, so on the other hand any one who is acquainted with the Mosaic Scripture will see that God speaks of the world as His creation, having brought the whole into being by the fiat of His will, and that He needs no words to make known His mind. As, then, he who heard the heavens declaring the glory of God looked not for set speech on the occasion (for, to those who can understand it, the universe speaks through the things which are being done, without regard or care for verbal explanation), so, even if any one hears Moses telling how God gave order and arrangement to each several part of Creation by name, let him not suppose the prophet to speak falsely, nor degrade the contemplation of sublime verities by mean and grovelling notions, thus, as it were, reducing God to a mere human standard, and supposing that after the manner of men he directs His operations by the instrumentality of speech; but let His fiat mean His will only, and let the names of those created things denote the mere reality of their coming into being. And thus he will learn these two things from what is recorded: (1) That God made all things by His will, and (2) that without any trouble or difficulty the Divine Will became nature.

οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οἷς τις πρακτικὴ δύναμις ἐκ φύσεως ἔνεστι, τὸ μὲν δυνάμει θεωρεῖται τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐκπλήρωσιν, ὡς φέρε εἰπεῖν ἀεὶ μὲν εἶναι ναυπηγόν φαμεν τῇ δυνάμει τὸν τὴν ναυπηγικὴν ἔχοντα τέχνην, ἐνεργεῖν δὲ τότε, ὅταν ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων δείξῃ τὴν ἐπιστήμην, οὐχ οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς μακαρίας ζωῆς. ἀλλ' ὅλον ὅτιπέρ ἐστιν ἐν ἐκείνῃ νοούμενον ἐνέργεια καὶ πρᾶξίς ἐστιν, ἀμέσως τοῦ βουλήματος πρὸς τὸ κατὰ πρόθεσιν τέλος μεθισταμένου. ὡς τοίνυν μαρτυρεῖ τῷ δημιουργῷ τὴν δόξαν ἡ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ διακόσμησις καὶ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν πεποιηκότα καὶ φωνῆς οὐ προσδέεται, οὕτω μοι τὸ ἔμπαλιν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Μωϋσέως γραφῆς μεταλαβὼν ἄν τις λογίσαιτο, ὅτι καὶ ἑαυτοῦ κτίσμα ὁ θεὸς λέγει τὸν κόσμον ὁ τῷ προστάγματι τὸ πᾶν οὐσιώσας καὶ ῥημάτων πρὸς δήλωσιν τῆς ἐννοίας ταύτης οὐκ ἐπιδέεται. ὡς οὖν ὁ ἀκούσας οὐρανοῦ διηγουμένου διεξοδικὸν οὐκ ἐζήτησε λόγον (λαλεῖ γὰρ τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι διὰ τῶν γινομένων ὁ κόσμος τὴν διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων δήλωσιν χαίρειν ἐάσας), οὕτω κἂν τοῦ Μωϋσέως λέγοντός τις ἀκούσῃ, ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ ὀνομαστὶ περὶ τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν διατάττοντός τε καὶ κελεύοντος, μήτε ψεύδεσθαι τὸν προφήτην ὑπονοείτω μήτε μικροῖς καὶ χαμαιζήλοις νοήμασι κατασμικρυνέτω τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν θεωρίαν, οἷον ἐξανθρωπίζων διὰ τῶν τοιούτων τὸ θεῖον καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν συνήθειαν φωνῇ τὰ προστάγματα διεξοδεύειν ὑποτιθέμενος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πρόσταγμα δηλούτω τὴν βούλησιν, τὰ δὲ τῶν κτισθέντων ὀνόματα αὐτὴν διασημαινέτω τὴν τῶν γεγονότων ὑπόστασιν: ὥστε τὰ δύο διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων μαθεῖν, καὶ ὅτι βουληθεὶς ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα κατείργασται καὶ ὅτι ἀπραγμόνως τε καὶ ἀκόπως τὸ θεῖον βούλημα φύσις ἐγένετο.