order would constitute a tree, were all invisibly and simultaneously present in
Book V 299
An illustration ofhow even things we see developing and coming to be now were all created simultaneously at the beginning
23, 44. We, however, whose steps are being directed through holy scripture by the same divine Providence, lest they should stray into that kind of perversity, must now make every effort to track down with God's help, from the clues also supplied by his very works, where and how he created simultaneously, when he rested from his completed works, these things we see around us, on whose forms and appearance he is still working right up till now through the succession of times and seasons.
So let us consider then the beauty of any kind of tree you like, in its trunk, its branches, its leaves, its fruits. This admirable sight did not of course suddenly spring into being in its full stature and glory, but in the order with which we are also familiar. Thus it rose up from its roots, which the first sprig had fixed in the earth, and from there grew all these parts in their distinct forms and shapes. That sprig, furthermore, came from a seed; so it was in the seed that all the rest was originally to be found, not in the mass of full material growth, but in the potenti ality of its causative virtue. That full growth, you see, was built up from a supply of earth and moisture.33 But much more wonderful and remarkable is that virtue in a tiny grain which enabled the surrounding moisture mixed with earth to be turned as the basic material into the specific wood of that tree, into the spread of the branches, into the green and the shape of the leaves, into the succulent form of the fruit and the wonderfully disposed order of all these. Does anything, after all, sprout or hang from that tree which has not been extracted and brought out from the hidden treasure of that seed?
But that seed came from a tree (not the same one, it is true, but another) and that tree again from another seed; sometimes, though, a tree also comes direct from a tree, when a cutting is taken and planted. So then, both seed from tree and tree from seed and tree from tree; but never seed from seed unless tree first between, while tree from tree, even if no seed between. Each therefore follows the other alternately, but both come from the earth, not the earth from them. So their first parent is the earth.34 The same too with animals, though there could be a doubt whether their seed first came from them, or they from their seed; still, whichever of these came first, it is utterly certain that it came from the earth.
45. Now just as all these elements, which in the course of time and in due order would constitute a tree, were all invisibly and simultaneously present in that grain, so too that is how, when God created all things simultaneously, the
33. Two of the elements of ancient chemistry—and biochemistry. 34. His thoughts now go back, without his actually telling us so, perhaps even without his noticing it himself, to the original production of trees from the earth on the third day of creation; it is fairly evident that he has the sixth day of creation in mind when he goes on to say that "it is the same with animals."