Chapter XX.—Concerning Reptiles and Flying Creatures (Ver. 20),—The Sacrament of Baptism Being Regarded.

26. Let the sea also conceive and bring forth your works, and let the waters bring forth the moving creatures that have life.1218    Gen. i. 20. For ye, who “take forth the precious from the vile,”1219    Jer. xv. 19. have been made the mouth of God, through which He saith, “Let the waters bring forth,” not the living creature which the earth bringeth forth, but the moving creature having life, and the fowls that fly above the earth. For Thy sacraments, O God, by the ministry of Thy holy ones, have made their way amid the billows of the temptations of the world, to instruct the Gentiles in Thy Name, in Thy Baptism. And amongst these things, many great works of wonder have been wrought, like as great whales; and the voices of Thy messengers flying above the earth, near to the firmament of Thy Book; that being set over them as an authority, under which they were to fly whithersoever they were to go. For “there is no speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard;” seeing their sound1220    Ps. xix. 3, 4. The word “sound” in this verse (as given in the LXX. and Vulg.), is in the Hebrew קַוָּם, which is rightly rendered in the Authorized Version a “line” or “rule.” It may be noted, in connection with Augustin’s interpretation, that the word “firmament” in the first verse of this psalm is the רָקִיעַ of Gen. i. 7; translated in both places by the LXX. στερέωμα. The “heavens” and the “firmament” are constantly interpreted by the Fathers as referring to the apostles and their firmness in teaching the word: and this is supported by reference to St. Paul’s quotation of the text in Rom. x. 18: “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” “hath gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world,” because Thou, O Lord, hast multiplied these things by blessing.1221    Gen. i. 4.

27. Whether do I lie, or do I mingle and confound, and not distinguish between the clear knowledge of these things that are in the firmament of heaven, and the corporeal works in the undulating sea and under the firmament of heaven? For of those things whereof the knowledge is solid and defined, without increase by generation, as it were lights of wisdom and knowledge, yet of these self-same things the material operations are many and varied; and one thing in growing from another is multiplied by Thy blessing, O God, who hast refreshed the fastidiousness of mortal senses; so that in the knowledge of our mind, one thing may, through the motions of the body, be in many ways1222    See end of note 17, p. 197, above. set out and expressed. These sacraments have the waters brought forth;1223    “He alludes to Baptism in water, accompanied with the word of the gospel; of the institution whereof man’s misery was the occasion.”—W. W. but in Thy Word. The wants of the people estranged from the eternity of Thy truth have produced them, but in Thy Gospel; because the waters themselves have cast them forth, the bitter weakness of which was the cause of these things being sent forth in Thy Word.

28. Now all things are fair that Thou hast made, but behold, Thou art inexpressibly fairer who hast made all things; from whom had not Adam fallen, the saltness of the sea would never have flowed from him,—the human race so profoundly curious, and boisterously swelling, and restlessly moving; and thus there would be no need that Thy dispensers should work in many waters,1224    See sec. 20, note, above. in a corporeal and sensible manner, mysterious doings and sayings. For so these creeping and flying creatures now present themselves to my mind, whereby men, instructed, initiated, and subjected by corporeal sacraments, should not further profit, unless their soul had a higher spiritual life, and unless, after the word of admission, it looked forwards to perfection.1225    “He means that Baptism, which is the sacrament of initiation, was not so profitable without the Lord’s Supper, which ancients called the sacrament of perfection or consummation.”—W. W. Compare also sec. 24, note, and p. 140, note 3, above.

CAPUT XX. Producant aquae, etc., Gen. 1, 20. Quae reptilia, quae volatilia.

26. Concipiat et mare, et pariat opera vestra, et producant aquae reptilia animarum vivarum. Separantes enim pretiosum a vili, facti estis os Dei, per quos diceret: Producant aquae, non animam vivam quam terra producit, sed reptilia animarum vivarum, et volatilia volantia super terram. Repserunt enim Sacramenta tua, Deus, per opera sanctorum tuorum inter medios fluctus tentationum saeculi, ad imbuendas gentes nomine tuo, in baptismo tuo. Et inter haec facta sunt magnalia mirabilia tanquam ceti grandes, et voces nuntiorum tuorum volitantes super terram juxta firmamentum Libri tui, praeposito illo sibi ad auctoritatem, sub quo volitarent quocumque irent. Neque enim sunt loquelae neque sermones, quorum non audiantur voces eorum, quando in omnem terram exiit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum (Psal. XVIII, 4, 5); quoniam tu, Domine, benedicendo multiplicasti haec.

27. Numquid mentior, aut mixtione misceo, neque distinguo lucidas cognitiones harum rerum in firmamento coeli, et opera corporalia in undoso mari, et sub firmamento coeli? Quarum enim rerum notitiae sunt solidae, et terminatae sine incrementis generationum, tanquam lumina sapientiae et scientiae, earumdem rerum sunt operationes corporales multae ac variae; et aliud ex alio crescendo multiplicatur in benedictione tua, Deus, qui consolatus es fastidia sensuum mortalium, ut in cognitione animi res una multis modis per corporis motiones figuretur atque dicatur. Aquae produxerunt haec; sed in verbo tuo. Necessitates alienatorum ab aeternitate veritatis tuae populorum produxerunt haec; sed in Evangelio tuo, quoniam ipsae aquae ista ejecerunt; quarum amarus languor fuit causa, ut in tuo verbo ista procederent.

28. Et pulchra sunt omnia faciente te, et ecce tu inenarrabiliter pulchrior qui fecisti omnia: a quo si non esset lapsus Adam, non diffunderetur ex utero ejus salsugo maris, genus humanum profunde curiosum, et procellose tumidum, et instabiliter fluidum; atque ita non opus esset ut in aquis multis corporaliter et sensibiliter operarentur dispensatores tui mystica facta et dicta. Sic enim nunc mihi occurrerunt reptilia et volatilia, quibus imbuti et initiati homines corporalibus sacramentis subditi, non ultra proficerent, nisi spiritualiter vivesceret anima gradu alio, et post initii verbum in consummationem respiceret.