Literal sense defended; God approves each work as good

If someone says that the heavens are the contemplative powers and the firmament is the practical and productive powers concerned with duties, we accept the argument as elegant, but we will not at all grant that it is true. For by that logic dew, frost, cold, and heat—since they were commanded in Daniel to hymn the creator of all things—would be some intelligent and invisible nature. But when thoughtful people interpret the language in these passages with discernment, it is a completion of the praise of the creator. For not only does the water above the heavens fulfill its praise to God, as holding first place in honor because of the superiority it possesses from virtue, but, as it says, 'Praise him, also the things from the earth, dragons and all deeps' (Psalm 148:7). So even the deep, which the allegorizers cast away into the worse portion, was not judged rejectable by the psalmist, but was received into the common chorus of creation; and it too, according to the principles inherent in it, harmoniously completes the hymn to its maker.

And God saw that it was good. The things made by God do not provide pleasure to God's eyes, nor is his acceptance of good things the same as ours. Rather, what is good is what has been completed by the principle of his art and what conduces to the useful service of its purpose. So the one who set before himself the clear goal of the things being made, and who examined each thing made in its parts as contributing to the completion of that end by his own artistic principles, approved them. After all, a hand by itself, an eye on its own, and each of the limbs of a statue lying separately would not appear beautiful to just anyone; but when they are set in their proper order, the beauty that comes from proportion becomes evident, even to the untrained eye, though only with difficulty. The craftsman, however, knows the beauty of each part even before the composition, and he praises each individual part, referring his thought back to their end. Such, then, is the kind of artistic praiser of the individual works that God is now recorded to be; and he is going to complete the fitting praise also for the whole world together when it is finished.

But let our words about the second day come to an end here, so as to give the diligent hearers time to examine what they have heard, so that if there is anything useful in it, they may hold it fast in memory, and through diligent meditation—as through a kind of digestion—await the distribution of what is beneficial. And for those occupied with the affairs of life, let this interval give them leisure to set their cares in order, so that with a soul cleansed of anxieties they may come to the evening feast of words. May the God who created the great things and who has arranged for these small things to be spoken give you understanding in all his truth, so that from the things that are seen you may perceive the invisible, and from the greatness and beauty of the creatures you may take up the fitting glory concerning the one who created us. For his invisible things, understood from the creation of the world by the things made, are clearly seen, both his eternal power and divinity (Romans 1:20), so that in earth, in air, in heaven, in water, in night, in day, and in all things visible, we may receive clear reminders of our benefactor.