6. The angelic intelligence.
BookV 281 upon the earth (Gn 1:12). From these words, I mean, it appears rather that seeds sprang from grass and trees, while these came not from seeds but from the earth, particularly as God's very own words also say the same thing. He did not say, you see, "Let seeds in the earth sprout grass for hay and fruit trees," but what he said was, Let the earth sprout grassfor hay sowing seed, to suggest seed coming from grass, not grass from seed; and thus it was made, and the earth produced (Gn 1:11-12). That is, first it was made thus in the knowledge of that day,6 and the earth now produced, so that this might also be made in the actual creature which was then fashioned.
10. So then in what way, before they were upon the earth and before they sprang up? As though it was one thing for them to be made together with heaven and earth, when that day was made, of which we have no knowledge or experi ence, which God made first; another for them to spring up now upon the earth, through the intervals of time suited to each kind of plant, which can only happen in the course of these days that are made by the sun circling round in its course—is that it? But if that is indeed the case, and that day is the harmonious fellowship and unity of the supercelestial angels and powers, there is certainly no doubt that God's creation is known to the angels in a way very, very different from the way it is known to us. Quite apart from their knowing it in the Word of God through which all things were made (Jn 1 :3), what I am saying is that even in itself it is known to them very differently from the way it is known to us. It is known to them, if I may so put it, primordially or in its origins, as God originally fashioned it, resting from his works by not fashioning anything more after setting it up. To us, on the other hand, it is known according to the way things previously fashioned are managed and regulated in the orderly course of time, according, that is, to the way in which God is working until now in those things that were completed and finished in the perfect number of six days.
1 1 . So the earth is said to have produced grass and trees then in their causes, that is, to have received the power to produce them. It was in the earth, that is to say, that things which were going to be realized in the course of time had already been made, if I may so put it, in the roots oftime. Later on, after all, God certainly planted Paradise along the east, and drew outfrom the earth there every tree that had a lovely look about it and was goodfor eating (Gn 2:8.9). It cannot, however, be said that he then added something to creation which he had not made before, something as it were to be added later to the perfection of all the very good things he finished and completed on the sixth day. No, all the natures of shrubs and trees had already been made in the first setting up of creation, and from this work of setting things up God rested. But from then on he managed and shifted about through their times and courses those very things he had set up in
6. The angelic intelligence.