Sentences, Books I–II

Chapter 1 (82).

On the work of the fifth day, when God created flying and swimming creatures from the waters. God also said: Let the waters bring forth creeping things with living souls, and let flying creatures be over the earth, etc. The work of the fifth day is the formation of fish and birds, with which two elements are adorned. From the same material, that is, from the waters, he created fish and birds, lifting the flying creatures into the air and consigning the swimming creatures to the deep.

Apparatus: 2 Rubrica om. NVW. 5 cum] tamen add. BCVW, add. interl. L. 11 distinctione] distinctionem MTV. 13 quarta] quarto TVW. 17 quinti] quinte MV.

1 Lib. II, c. 14, nn. 28–29 (PL 34, 274s; CSEL 28-I, 53–56). 2 Gen. 1, 14. 3 In Gen. 1, 14 (PL 91, 22 B; CCL 118A, 16). 4 Gen. 1, 20. 5 Resp. hymnus Magnae Deus potentiae... Partim remittis gurgiti, Partim levas in aera, in Breviario Romano, fer. V ad Vesperas. Cf. M. Dreves–C. Blume, Analecta hymnica, XLI, Lipsiae 1903, 37s.

Chapter 11. Glossa ordinaria on Gen. 1:14 (in Lyra, I, 26a, 26b; on vv. 7b, 7a). Cf. Ignatius Brady, The Distinctions of Lombard’s Book of Sentences and Alexander of Hales, in Franciscan Studies 25 (1965), 112ff. — Chapter 1. Cf. Summa sententiarum, III, 1 (PL 171, 1117 A; 176, 89 C). — Chapter 2. Cf. Glossa ordinaria on Gen. 1:24 (in Lyra, I, 27c; on v. 10a).

Chapter 2 (83).

On the work of the sixth day, when the animals and creeping things of the earth were created. Next comes: God said: Let the earth bring forth a living soul, cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds, etc. The work of the sixth day is described when the earth is said to be adorned with its animals.

Chapter 3 (84).

Whether poisonous animals became harmful after sin, or whether they began to harm because of sin, having first been made harmless. — Augustine, On Genesis: It is commonly asked about poisonous and dangerous creatures whether they were created after human sin as punishment, or whether instead, having been created harmless, they began to harm sinners. — Solution. It can rightly be said that the creatures would have harmed no human being if he had not sinned. They began to harm in order to punish and frighten the vicious, or to test and perfect virtue. They were therefore created harmless, but because of sin they were made harmful.

Chapter 4 (85).

Whether small animals were then created. — Augustine: A question also arises about certain small creatures: were they created in the first acts of creation, or did they later arise from things that had decayed? For most are generated from the defects or exhalations of moist bodies, or from corpses; some also from the decay of wood, plants, and fruits; and God is the author of them all. — Solution. — Augustine: It can be said that those born from animal bodies, especially dead ones, were created with the animals only potentially and materially. But those born from the earth or waters, or from things that came forth when the earth sprouted, can reasonably be said to have been created then.

Apparatus: 7 animalia] et add. NRW. 14 propter] per MNT. 17 minuta animalia trp. NTV.

1 Gen. 1, 24. 2 Lib. III, c. 15, n. 24 (PL 34, 289; CSEL 28-I, 80s). 3 Ibid., c. 14, n. 22 (PL 34, 288; CSEL 28-I, 79s). 4 Ibid., n. 23 (PL 34, 288; CSEL 28-I, 80).

Chapter 3: Glossa ordin. on Gen. 1:24 (apud Lyr., I, 27d; v. 10d). Chapter 4: Glossa ordin. on Gen. 1:24 (I, 27d; v. 10c).

Chapter 5 (86).

1. Why the human being was made after all things. After all things had been created and arranged, the human being was made last, as their lord and possessor, and was to be preferred to them all. Hence what follows: God saw that it was good, and said: Let us make the human being, etc.

2. Before treating the making of the human being, he treats more fully the mode of the first creation of things, which he touched on briefly above: here Catholic men seem to disagree: some say that the world was created all at once in matter and form, while others say it was created over intervals of time and days, according to which view the exposition given above has proceeded thus far. But before we discuss the creation of the human being, let us clarify more fully what we touched on briefly above. For, as we said, Catholic commentators on the distinction of things are found to disagree: some say that things were created and distinguished according to their kinds over the intervals of six days. Since the text of Genesis seems to support their view more, and the Church approves it more, we have diligently explained thus far how, from that common matter first created without form, the kinds of bodily things were later formed distinctly over the course of six days.

Chapter 6 (87).

1. Here he pursues the opinion of those who maintain that all things were made at once. Others think that things were not made over intervals of time, but came into being all at once, already formed. Augustine, On Genesis, tries in many ways to show this, saying that the four elements, formed as they now appear, existed from the beginning and that heaven was adorned with stars; but some things were then made not formally but materially, and later, with the passage of time, became distinct in form, such as plants, trees, and perhaps animals. They say, therefore, that all things were made at the very beginning of time, but some formally and according to the kinds in which we see them, such as the greater parts of the world, while others were made only materially.

2. But, they say, Moses, speaking to an uncultured and carnal people, adapted his manner of speech, speaking of God by comparison with a human being who completes his works over intervals of time, although God made his works all at once. Hence Augustine says: “Moses, he says, reports that God made those works separately because what God could do all at once could not be said all at once by a human being.” Again: “Scripture could divide by the times of speaking what God did not divide by the times of acting.” Those who, clinging to these and similar authorities, say that the four elements and the luminaries of heaven existed formed all at once, call the six days mentioned by Scripture six kinds of things, that is, distinctions, made all at once, partly formally and partly causally.

¹ syderum positio BCMOPTX. 9 quos] quod N, -que R. 10 deducta] est added LV. 15 Ecclesia] catholica added BCVW. 16 ideo] omitted LM, added between the lines in T.]

1 Gen. 1, 25–26. 2 In Dist. 12, c. 2 (p. 384s).

Chapter 7 (88).

How it is to be understood that God rested from all his work. We must now say something about the rest of the seventh day. It is written that God completed his work on the seventh day, and rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done. — Bede: God is said to have rested on the seventh day “not as though wearied by working, but he rested from all his work because he ceased to make a new creature. To rest means to cease; hence in the Apocalypse they ‘had no rest’ as they said, ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ that is, they did not cease saying it.” — Augustine: God is therefore said to have rested because “he ceased making kinds of creatures, since he created nothing new thereafter. Yet, as the Truth says in the Gospel, the Father works with the Son until now, namely in sustaining those same kinds established then. For the Creator’s power is the cause of every creature’s continued existence. Thus what is said, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working,’ shows the continual sustaining of the whole creation. He rested on the seventh day so as to make no further new creature whose matter or likeness had not preceded it; but he works until now, not ceasing to preserve and govern what he created.”

Apparatus: 6 dicunt] dicuntur NRV. 11 sua opera trp. BCLMNV. 17 esse] et add. BCNOPW, sed exp. esse et O. 21 Quomodo] sit add. BCVX. intelligendum] sit add. LM, est add. RW.

1 Besides the note in the other series, cf. On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, I, chs. 14–15, nos. 28–29; IV, chs. 33–34, nos. 51–55; VII, ch. 28, no. 42 (PL 34, 256–57, 317–18, 371–72; CSEL 28-I, 20–22, 131–36, 227–28); Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis, chs. 3–4, nos. 10–11 (PL 34, 223–24; CSEL 28-I, 464–66). 2 As to the sense (since these are the words of the Sum of Sentences), On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis I, ch. 15, no. 29 (PL 34, 257; CSEL 28-I, 21–22). 3 Ibid. 4 Gen. 2:2. 5 On Genesis 2:2 (PL 91, 34 C–D; CCL 118A, 33–34). creation. For “to rest” means to cease; hence in the Apocalypse: They had no rest, saying: Holy, holy, holy—that is, they did not cease saying it.” — Augustine: Therefore God is said to have rested because “he ceased making kinds of creatures, since he established no new ones thereafter. Yet until now, as Truth says in the Gospel, the Father works with the Son, namely, in administering those same kinds that were then instituted. For the Creator’s power is the cause by which every creature subsists. What is said, then—My Father works until now, and I work—shows the continual administration of the whole creation. On the seventh day, therefore, he rested, so as no longer to make a new creature whose matter or likeness had not preceded; but until now he works, so that he does not cease sustaining and governing what he established.”

²

Chapter 8 (89).

1. How we should understand that God is said to have completed his work on the seventh day, although then he rested from all his work. But it is asked how God is said to have completed his work on the seventh day, since on that day he rested from all that work and made no new kind of thing.

2. According to another reading there is no question here, which Augustine follows. Another translation reads: God completed his works on the sixth day. This raises no question, since what was made on it is clear, and the completion of all things was accomplished on that day, as Scripture shows when it says: God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Chapter 9 (90).

1. How all things made by God are said to be very good. — Augustine in the Enchiridion: All things were naturally good, and had no defect in their nature. And the things God established are good “even individually, but together they are very good, because from them all arises the wondrous beauty of the universe. In it, even what is called evil, when well ordered and placed in its proper position, brings good into greater prominence, so that the good is more pleasing and praiseworthy when compared with evil.” Thus, on the sixth day the completion of all the works took place.

2. Here he returns to the question posed: namely, how it is true that God completed his work on the seventh day. — Bede: Hence the foregoing question arises: “How can God be said to have completed his work on the seventh day, as the Hebrew text has it, when he is said to have created nothing new on that day? (He answers:) Unless perhaps God is said to have completed his work on the seventh day because he blessed and sanctified it, as Scripture adds: He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. For blessing and sanctification are a work, just as Solomon performed a work when he dedicated the temple.”

Apparatus: 9 Solvit om. BCMNRVWX, Beda add. L. || complevisse] complesse NTV. 18 Rubrica om. RVW. 25 Rubrica om. RVW.

1 As regards Bede, see the other series of notes (p. 404). 2 See Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis, ch. 2: “And God completed on the sixth day the works he had made. In place of ‘the sixth day,’ the Hebrew has ‘the seventh day’” (PL 23, 940 A; CCL 72, 4); the Vulgate reads likewise. 3 Gen. 2:3. 4 Cf. 1 Kings 8. 5 Exod. 20:8. 6 Gen. 2:2.

Chapter 10 (91).

1. What the sanctification and blessing of the seventh day are. That day is said to have been sanctified and blessed because God endowed it with a mystical blessing and sanctification surpassing those of the other days. Hence the Law says: Remember to sanctify the Sabbath day.

2. Why in counting the days we proceed up to the seventh. This is why, in counting the days, we proceed up to the seventh and say that there are seven days, by whose repetition all time passes—not because there is no other day, the eighth, and the ninth, and so on; rather, the kinds of things were distinguished in the six days, and on the seventh, although no new kind of thing was instituted, there was nevertheless in it, as it were, a new state: the sanctification of the works and the rest of the maker.

3. Another explanation, by which the text is interpreted. The statement God completed his work on the seventh day can also be explained this way: that is, he saw it completed and finished.

Apparatus: 10 ulterius trp. p. faceret BCRW. 18 ibi est] inest BCP.

1 Apoc. 4, 8. 2 De Genesi ad litt., IV, c. 12, nn. 22–23 (PL 34, 304s; CSEL 28-I, 108ss). 3 Ioan. 5, 17. 4 Cf. August., De Genesi ad litt. IV, c. 1 (PL 34, 295; CSEL 28-I, 93). 5 Gen. 1, 31. 6 Cap. 10–11 (PL 40, 236; CCL 46, 53).

Chapter 8, no. 2: Glossa ordinaria on Gen. 2:2 (Lyra I, 34a; v 13d); Bede, In Genesim, I (PL 91, 33 C–D; CCL 118A, 32). See also ch. 9, no. 2.

Chapter 9, no. 2: From the Glossa ordinaria on Gen. 2:2 (in Lyra, I, 34a; v 13d); it is Bede’s, In Genesim, I (PL 91, 33 D, 34 B; CCL 118A, 32).

Chapter 10, no. 1: Glossa ordinaria on Gen. 2:2–3 (Lyra I, 34a, 35a; v 13d, 15a). No. 2: Summa sententiarum, II, 1 (PL 171, 1117 D–1118 A; 176, 90 C–91 A).