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Chapter VII.—On Incorporeal and Corporeal Beings.




In the first place, then, let us see what reason itself can discover respecting sun, moon, and stars,—whether the opinion, entertained by some, of their unchangeableness be correct,—and let the declarations of holy Scripture, as far as possible, be first adduced.  For Job appears to assert that not only may the stars be subject to sin, but even that they are actually not clean from the contagion of it.  The following are his words:  “The stars also are not clean in Thy sight.” 20492049     Job xxv. 5.   Nor is this to be understood of the splendour of their physical substance, as if one were to say, for example, of a garment, that it is not clean; for if such were the meaning, then the accusation of a want of cleanness in the splendour of their bodily substance would imply an injurious reflection upon their Creator.  For if they are unable, through their own diligent efforts, either to acquire for themselves a body of greater brightness, or through their sloth to make the one they have less pure, how should they incur censure for being stars that are not clean, if they receive no praise because they are so? 20502050     [See note, supra, p. 262.  S.]


We think, then, that they may be designated as living beings, for this reason, that they are said to receive commandments from God, which is ordinarily the case only with rational beings.  “I have given a commandment to all the stars,” 20512051     Isa. xlv. 12. says the Lord.  What, now, are these commandments?  Those, namely, that each star, in its order and course, should bestow upon the world the amount of splendour which has been entrusted to it.  For those which are called “planets” move in orbits of one kind, and those which are termed ἀπλανεῖς are different.  Now it manifestly follows from this, that neither can the movement of that body take place without a soul, nor can living things be at any time without motion.  And seeing that the stars move with such order and regularity, that their movements never appear to be at any time subject to derangement, would it not be the height of folly to say that so orderly an observance of method and plan could be carried out or accomplished by irrational beings?  In the writings of Jeremiah, indeed, the moon is called the queen of heaven. 20522052     Jer. vii. 18.   Yet if the stars are living and rational beings, there will undoubtedly appear among them both an advance and a falling back.  For the language of Job, “the stars are not clean in His sight,” seems to me to convey some such idea.

4.  And now we have to ascertain whether those beings which in the course of the discussion we have discovered to possess life and reason, were endowed with a soul along with their bodies at the time mentioned in Scripture, when “God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars also,” 20532053     Gen. i. 16. or whether their spirit was implanted in them, not at the creation of their bodies, but from without, after they had been already made.  I, for my part, suspect that the spirit was implanted in them from without; but it will be worth while to prove this from Scripture:  for it will seem an easy matter to make the assertion on conjectural grounds, while it is more difficult to establish it by the testimony of Scripture.  Now it may be established conjecturally as follows.  If the soul of a man, which is certainly inferior while it remains the soul of a man, was not formed along with his body, but is proved to have been implanted strictly from without, much more must this be the case with those living beings which are called heavenly.  For, as regards man, how could the soul of him, viz., Jacob, who supplanted his brother in the womb, appear to be formed along with his body?  Or how could his soul, or its 264images, be formed along with his body, who, while lying in his mother’s womb, was filled with the Holy Ghost?  I refer to John leaping in his mother’s womb, and exulting because the voice of the salutation of Mary had come to the ears of his mother Elisabeth.  How could his soul and its images be formed along with his body, who, before he was created in the womb, is said to be known to God, and was sanctified by Him before his birth?  Some, perhaps, may think that God fills individuals with His Holy Spirit, and bestows upon them sanctification, not on grounds of justice and according to their deserts; but undeservedly.  And how shall we escape that declaration:  “Is there unrighteousness with God?  God forbid!” 20542054     Rom. ix. 14. or this:  “Is there respect of persons with God?” 20552055     Rom. ii. 11.   For such is the defence of those who maintain that souls come into existence with bodies.  So far, then, as we can form an opinion from a comparison with the condition of man, I think it follows that we must hold the same to hold good with heavenly beings, which reason itself and scriptural authority show us to be the case with men.

5.  But let us see whether we can find in holy Scripture any indications properly applicable to these heavenly existences.  The following is the statement of the Apostle Paul:  “The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” 20562056     Cf. Rom. viii. 20, 21.   To what vanity, pray, was the creature made subject, or what creature is referred to, or how is it said “not willingly,” or “in hope of what?”  And in what way is the creature itself to be delivered from the bondage of corruption?  Elsewhere, also, the same apostle says:  “For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” 20572057     Rom. viii. 19.   And again in another passage, “And not only we, but the creation itself groaneth together, and is in pain until now.” 20582058     Rom. viii. 22, cf. 23.   And hence we have to inquire what are the groanings, and what are the pains.  Let us see then, in the first place, what is the vanity to which the creature is subject.  I apprehend that it is nothing else than the body; for although the body of the stars is ethereal, it is nevertheless material.  Whence also Solomon appears to characterize the whole of corporeal nature as a kind of burden which enfeebles the vigour of the soul in the following language:  “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.  I have looked, and seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity.” 20592059     Eccles. i. 1, 14.   To this vanity, then, is the creature subject, that creature especially which, being assuredly the greatest in this world, holds also a distinguished principality of labour, i.e., the sun, and moon, and stars, are said to be subject to vanity, because they are clothed with bodies, and set apart to the office of giving light to the human race.  “And this creature,” he remarks, “was subjected to vanity not willingly.”  For it did not undertake a voluntary service to vanity, but because it was the will of Him who made it subject, and because of the promise of the Subjector to those who were reduced to this unwilling obedience, that when the ministry of their great work was performed, they were to be freed from this bondage of corruption and vanity when the time of the glorious redemption of God’s children should have arrived.  And the whole of creation, receiving this hope, and looking for the fulfilment of this promise now, in the meantime, as having an affection for those whom it serves, groans along with them, and patiently suffers with them, hoping for the fulfilment of the promises.  See also whether the following words of Paul can apply to those who, although not willingly, yet in accordance with the will of Him who subjected them, and in hope of the promises, were made subject to vanity, when he says, “For I could wish to be dissolved,” or “to return and be with Christ, which is far better.” 20602060     Phil. i. 23.   For I think that the sun might say in like manner, “I would desire to be dissolved,” or “to return and be with Christ, which is far better.”  Paul indeed adds, “Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you;” while the sun may say, “To abide in this bright and heavenly body is more necessary, on account of the manifestation of the sons of God.”  The same views are to be believed and expressed regarding the moon and stars.


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