The Book of Genesis

in Hebrew Beresith. בראשית

The Argument of the Book of Genesis

This first Book of holy Scripture, called Genesis (which signifies birth or beginning), was written by Moyses, when he was designed by God to instruct and rule the children of Israel, as also the other four books following.

The Author and authority of all which five books were ever acknowledged by the faithful, both of the Old and New Testament; and so accounted and esteemed by tradition, till Christ and his Apostles, who also confirmed them by their testimonies and allegations of the same, as of holy Scriptures.

From the creation until Moyses wrote (which was above two thousand four hundred years), the Church exercised Religion by revelations made to certain Patriarchs, and by Traditions from man to man, without any Scriptures or law written. But the peculiar people of God being more visibly separated from other nations, and many errors abounding in the world, God would (for correction and confutation thereof) have his will made further known to his children, and so remain among them in written record, by his faithful servant and Prophet Moyses.

Who therefore declares the Author and beginning of all things, that is, how all creatures were made by God, and of him have their being, and by him only are conserved. He teaches expressly that there is one only God, against those that imagined and brought into the fantasies of men many gods. That the whole or universal substance of heaven and earth, with their ornaments and accidents, were made in time, against those that thought the first foundation thereof had ever been. That God does govern the same, against those that say all is ruled by destiny or by the stars, and not by the continual providence of God. That God is a rewarder of the good, and a punisher of evil, which sinners seem either not to know, or grossly to forget. And that God created all for man's use and benefit, which should make us grateful.

Wherefore holy Moyses more particularly describes the beginning of man: what he was at first, how he fell, how all mankind is come of one man, deducing the Genealogy of Adam, especially to Noe. Then how men being more and more defiled upon the earth, with wicked (especially carnal) sins, were by God's just wrath drowned with an universal flood.

Again, how a few reserved persons multiplied the world anew. But this offspring also falling into many sins (especially Idolatry and spiritual fornication, as those of the first age did to carnal offences), God still conserved some faithful and true servants. Of which Moyses specially pursues the line of Noe by Sem his first-begotten son. Then describes the particular vocations, lives, manners, notable sayings, and noble facts (with sincere religion) of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and other holy Patriarchs who lived before the written law. Likewise upon what occasion, and in what manner Jacob (otherwise called Israel), with all his progeny, descended from the Land of Canaan into Egypt, and were there entertained.

So this book contains the history of two thousand three hundred and odd years. And it may be divided into eight parts:

The Creation of Heaven and Earth, and other Creatures, and lastly of Man (ch. 1–2).
The transgression and fall of man, and his casting out of Paradise; the multiplication of men and of sin (though still some were just); the general flood that drowned all except eight persons, and a few other living creatures of the earth (ch. 3–8).
The new increase and multiplication of the same (ch. 8–11).
The confusion of tongues and the division of nations (ch. 11).
Abraham's going forth out of his country, God's promise that in his seed all Nations should be blessed, and the commandment of Circumcision (ch. 12–21).
The progeny, and other blessings, especially the great virtues of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (ch. 21–37).
The selling of Joseph into Egypt, and his advancement there (ch. 37–46).
Jacob and his progeny's going into Egypt, their entertainment there, and Jacob's and finally Joseph's death (the five last chapters).

Notes:

Genesis written by Moyses; always authentical.
So known by Tradition, confirmed by Christ, alleged also by the Apostles: Matt. 19. Heb. 11. James 2. 1. Pet. 2. 2. Pet. 2.
Religion revealed to special persons and so observed by traditions: St. Augustine ques. vet. & novi Testam. c. 3.
Why Scripture was written.
What Moyses specially shows in this book.
The right line from Adam to Noe particularly described (cf. Gen. 10); the principal Patriarchs from Noe to the 12 sons of Israel.

The Sum and Partition of the Holy Bible

With a brief note on the Canonical and Apocryphal Books.

By the uniform consent of all learned Divines, the holy Bible (or written Word of God) contains, expressed or implied, all things that man is to believe, to observe, and to avoid, for obtaining of eternal salvation, that is, all matters of faith and manners, by which we may know and serve God, and so be spiritually joined with him in this life and in eternity.

For both the Old and New Testament propose and testify unto us one and the same God, the same Christ, the same Church, and other Mysteries of our belief, not differing in substance, but in manner of uttering: the Old more obscurely in figures and prophecies foretelling those things which the New declares (in great part) as done and performed. Whereupon St. Augustine says: In the Old Testament the New lies hidden; and in the New the Old lies open. And touching their names (in which appears difference), the one (says the same Doctor) is called the Old Testament, either because it proposes promises of temporal things (with which our old corruptness is allured) or in respect of the New, by which it is fulfilled, and in some part abolished. The other is called the New, because by it man is renewed, and has promise of eternal life, which shall never wax old nor decay.

Likewise St. Gregory the Great testifies this conformity and correspondence between the Old and New Testament, affirming that the same is signified by the Prophet Ezechiel's vision of a wheel, which had four faces (or appearance of four wheels), the shape whereof was, as it were, a wheel in the midst of a wheel. What is this (says he) Nisi quod in Testamenti veteris litera Testamentum novum latuit per Allegoriam? but that in the letter of the Old Testament, the New lay hidden by an Allegory?

And as the same is the sum and subject of both Testaments, so both are divided (for the more principal parts thereof) into four sorts of Books: Legal, Historical, Sapiential, and Prophetical.

The Legal books of the Old Testament are the five Books of Moyses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, to which answer in the New Testament the four Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John.
Historical books of the Old Testament are the Books of Josue, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon, Esdras with Nehemias, Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, and two of the Machabees, to which in the New Testament answers the Acts of the Apostles.
Sapiential of the Old Testament are the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, the Book of Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, and of like sort are in the New Testament the Epistles of St. Paul and of other Apostles.
Prophetical books are David's Psalter (which is also Sapiential, yea, likewise Legal and Historical), the Books of Isaias, Jeremias with Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, the twelve lesser Prophets, Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias. And in the New Testament, the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle.

All these Books are undoubtedly Canonical, as the Authors cited in the margent testify. And consequently all (and all the parts thereof) are of infallible truth. For otherwise, as St. Augustine teaches, if any part were false or doubtful, all were uncertain. Once admitting falsehood (says he, Epist. 8. ad Hieron.) in such sovereign authority, no parcel of these books should remain which any way should seem hard to manners, or incredible to believe, but it might by this most pernicious rule be turned to an officious fiction of the author. That is: if any error could be committed by the authors of Scriptures, either through ignorance, oblivion, or any other human frailty, whatever were produced, exception might be taken, and question made, whether the author had erred or no.

True it is, that some of these books (as we shall particularly discuss in their places) were sometimes doubted of by some Catholics, and called Apocryphal, in that sense as the word properly signifies hidden or not apparent. So St. Jerome (in his prologue before the Latin Bible) calls many books Apocryphal, being not so evident whether they were Divine Scripture, because they were not in the Jews' Canon, nor at first in the Church's Canon, but were never rejected as false or erroneous. In which sense the Prayer of Manasses, the third book of Esdras, and the third of Machabees are yet called Apocryphal. As for the fourth of Esdras and fourth of Machabees, there is more doubt.

But many others, as the book ascribed to Enoch, the Gospels of St. Andrew, St. Thomas, St. Bartholomew, and the like (recited by St. Gelasius Decreto de libris Ecclesiasticis dist. 15. Can. Sancta Romana, St. Innocent the First Epist. 3., St. Jerome Ep. ad Laetam, St. Augustine l. 15. c. 23. de Civitate Dei, Origen homi. 2. in Cantica), are in a worse sense called Apocryphal, and are rejected as containing manifest errors, or feigned by Heretics.

Neither can a Christian Catholic be otherwise assured which Books are Divine and Canonical Scriptures, but by declaration of the Catholic Church, which without interruption succeeds the Apostles, to whom our Saviour promised, and sent, the Holy Ghost to teach all truth. For if anything more than others, assuredly one chief and most necessary point is to know and declare which Books are God's holy word, being of most singular importance.

Notes:

How the holy Scriptures contain all knowledge necessary to salvation. The Old and New Testament show the same God, Christ, Church and other Mysteries of Religion, the Old more obscurely and with less helps; the New more expressly, and yielding more grace.
St. Jerome, Epist. ad Paulin. de omnib. S. Scrip. libris. St. Augustine, praefat. in specul., l. 2 de doct. Christ. c. 9, l. 1 de Gen. contra
Apocryphal of two sorts: (1) not declared canonical; (2) rejected as erroneous.
In both Testaments are four sorts of Books: Legal, Historical, Sapiential, Prophetical.
St. Gregory Homilia 6 in Ezech. 1.
All these books recited are Canonical, and of infallible truth.
Conc. Carth. An. D. 419. Conc. Laodic. c. 59. Florent. Instruct. Armen. decret. 7. Trident. Sess. 4. St. Athanasius in Synop. St. Augustine l. 2. doct. Christ. c. 8. Isidor. l. 6. Etymol. c. 1. & alibi. Nicep. l. 4. c. 15. Euseb. l. 5. c. 8.
The Holy Ghost declares by the Church which Books are Divine Scriptures: Matt. 28. John 14, 16. Acts 2. 20. 1. Tim. 3.

The Sum of the Old Testament

As it is distinguished from the New.

Notwithstanding the subject and general argument of both Testaments is one and the same in substance (as is already said), yet they differ in time, in manner of uttering of Mysteries, in variety of precepts and promises, also in means to observe the things exacted, and to attain to the end proposed.

In regard whereof St. Jerome says: Lex Moysi et omne vetus instrumentum elementa mundi intelliguntur, quibus quasi elementis et Religionis exordiis Deum discimus, "The law of Moyses and all the Old Testament are understood the elements of the world, by which (as by first rudiments and beginnings) we learn to know God." For that in it we have first the law of nature, and afterwards a law written, with promises of temporal rewards, as long life, land flowing with milk and honey, and the like; but it brought nothing to perfection, as St. Paul says, when gifts and hosts were offered, which could not according to conscience make the observer perfect. For the helps of that time were but infirma et egena elementa, "weak and poor elements."

Likewise in general, touching the punishments that sometimes happened to the people of the Old Testament when they transgressed, the same Apostle affirms that all the same chanced to them in figure, and are written for our correption, upon whom the ends of the world are come. So that the Old Testament or Law was but our pedagogue in Christ.

Yet it sets forth to us the whole course of God's Church for the space of four thousand years, that is, from the beginning of the world until Christ our Redeemer, which Divines divide into six Ages, wherein was variety and change of her state: three under the Law of nature, and three others under the written Law. The seventh and last Age being this time of grace (in which we now are) from Christ to the day of general Judgment, as the world was made in six days, and in the seventh God is said to have rested, and therefore sanctified it, in other sort than the former six. The eighth will be after the Resurrection, lasting for all eternity.

Which six Ages of the ancient Church and Old Testament are thus distributed:

From the Creation to Noe's flood: 1,656 years.
From the flood to the going of Abraham out of his country: 368 years (or counting Cainan, Gen. 11. iuxta 72. and Luke 3., 398 years).
From Abraham's going forth out of his country to the parting of the children of Israel out of Egypt: some count 720 years; others (whom we follow) but 430. And thus far in the law of nature, before the written law.
From the delivery of the children of Israel forth out of Egypt to the foundation of the Temple in Jerusalem: 480 years.
From the foundation of the Temple to the captivity and transmigration of the Jews into Babylon: about 430 years.
From the Captivity of Babylon to Christ: about 640 years.

In all which times God was acknowledged and rightly served, by a continual visible Church, with true religion, the same, and no other, which now that Church holds, that is called and known by the name of Catholic. As we intend, by God's assistance, to show by brief Annotations concerning many particular points now in Controversy, as the holy Text gives occasion. And especially by way of recapitulation after every one of the six Ages, when we come to those passages in the History where the same are ended.

Notes:

The Old and New Testament differ in time, in manner of uttering, in variety of Precepts, Promises, Means.
Tomo. 3. quest. 10. Algasiae.
Hebr. 7, 9, 10.
Gal. 4.
The Old Testament contains figure of the New: 1. Cor. 10.
Gal. 3.
A continual visible Church from the beginning of the world to Christ, divided into six ages.
The same Mystical body, but different in state.
Six-age chronology (Genebrardus Chronolog., St. Augustine l. 15. c. 8. De Civitate; Gal. 3., Exod. 16., 3. Reg. 6., 3. Reg. 7., 1. Esdra. 1.): first age 1,656 years; second 368 or 398; third about 430; fourth 480; fifth 430; sixth near 640.
All the time from the creation to Christ: about 4,000 years.

Of Moyses the Author of the Five First Books

Moyses (so called because he was taken from the water, as the name signifies) was born in Egypt, the son of Amram, the son of Caath, the son of Levi the Patriarch, and so of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. His marvelous delivery from drowning; his education, excellent form, singular wisdom, heroical virtues, rare dexterity in all affairs, and whole life most admirable, are gathered out of holy Scriptures by St. Gregory Bishop of Nyssa into a brief Sum, most worthy to be read but too large for this place.

He was born about the year of the world two thousand four hundred, long before all profane writers; yea, before many of the Pagans' false gods, as St. Augustine declares in many places of his most excellent book entitled Of the City of God. He lived in this world 120 years: of which 40 were in Pharao's Court as the adopted son of Pharao's daughter; 40 in banishment from Egypt in Madian; and 40 more he governed the people of Israel. His singular praises are also briefly touched in the last chapter of Deuteronomy (added by Josue) and in the book of Ecclesiasticus.

He died in the desert, and was buried in the vale of Moab, so secretly that no mortal man knew his sepulchre, lest the Jews (who were very prone to Idolatry) should have adored his body with divine honor, for the greatness and multitude of his miracles, and for the singular estimation they had of him for the same.

Notes:

MOYSES signifies "taken from the water."
Exod. 6. Num. 26. 1. Par. 6. Ioseph. l. 2. Antiq. c. 9. St. Augustine ser. 88. de temp. St. Gregory oratio. in laudem Basilij magni. St. Augustine l. 18. De Civitate c. 39.
The excellency of Moyses.
His sepulchre not known to any man: Deut. 34. Eccl. 45. Glos. ord.