seede of their owne kinde, to be your meate: 30and to al beastes of the earth, and to euerie foule of the ayre, & to al that moue vpon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they may haue to feede vpon. And it was so done. 31And God sawe al things that he had made, and[1] they were very good. And there was euening & morning that made the sixt day.
ANNOTATIONS. CHAP. I.
1. In the beginning.] Holie Moyses telleth what was done in the beginning of the world, and so forward euen til his owne time, writing aboue two thousand and foure hundreth yeares after the beginning. Al which being incomprehensible by humaine witte or discourse, he knew partly by Reuelations from God, for he had the gyft of Prophecie in most excellent sorte: partly by Traditions from his elders, who lerned of their fathers. For vntil that time the Church had only Traditions of such things, as were reueled to special men, wherby we see the great authoritie of Traditions, before there were Scriptures. And since Scriptures were written they are also necessarie, for three special reasons. First for that we are only assured by Tradition of the Church, that those bookes are in dede holie Scriptures, which are so accounted, and not by the Scripture it selfe, for that were to proue the same by the same, vntil we be assured of some part, that proueth some other partes. And this made S. Augustin to say plainly, that he could not beleue the Gospel, except the Church told him which is the Gospel. Secondly holie Scriptures being once knowen to be the word of God, and so of most eminent authoritie of al writings in the world, as S. Augustin S. Ierome, & al other Fathers agree, yet for the true vnderstanding of the same, both the Scripture it selfe, and the ancient Fathers remitte vs to the Church, namely to those in the Church, that are appointed by Gods ordinance, in the high place that he hath chosen. Which were the High Priests in the old Testament, as appeareth: Deut. 17. Mat. 23. Ioan. 11. And in the new Testament, S. Peter and his Successors for whom Christ prayed that his faith should not faile: and therfore commanded him to confirme his bretheren Luc. 22. Thirdly for things not expressed in particular in holie Scripture, the Scripture and Fathers do likewise remitte vs to Traditions, and to the iudgement and testimonie of the Church. Christ saying to his Apostles: he that heareth you heareth me. The Apostles doubted not to say: It semed good to the Holie Ghost and to vs. And S. Paul willed the Thessalonians to hold the traditions, which they had lerned, whether it were by word, or by his Epistle.
1. In the beginning God made heauen and earth.] Al writers ancient and later find such difficulties in these first chapters, that some otherwise very lerned haue thought it not possible to vnderstand the same according to the proper and vsual signification of the wordes, as the letter may seme to sound, but expound al allegorically, as that by the waters aboue the firmament should be vnderstood the blessed Angels, by the waters vnder the firmament wicked spirites, and the like. So did Origen and diuers that folow him therein. Yea S. Augustin in his bookes vpon Genesis against the Manichees, written
- ↑ Euerie creature in nature is good, but al considered together make the whole world perfect most apt to mans vse and Gods glorie. S. Aug. li. 1 de Gen. cont. Manich. ca. 21
