lower on the second. Thus, then, the perfection of the
Divine works corresponds to the perfection of the number six, which
is the sum of its aliquot parts, one, two, three; since one day is
assigned to the forming of spiritual creatures, two to that of
corporeal creatures, and three to the work of adornment.

Reply Obj. 1: According to Augustine, the work of creation belongs
to the production of formless matter, and of the formless spiritual
nature, both of which are outside of time, as he himself says
(Confess. xii, 12). Thus, then, the creation of either is set down
before there was any day. But it may also be said, following other
holy writers, that the works of distinction and adornment imply
certain changes in the creature which are measurable by time; whereas
the work of creation lies only in the Divine act producing the
substance of beings instantaneously. For this reason, therefore,
every work of distinction and adornment is said to take place "in a
day," but creation "in the beginning" which denotes something
indivisible.

Reply Obj. 2: Fire and air, as not distinctly known by the
unlettered, are not expressly named by Moses among the parts of the
world, but reckoned with the intermediate part, or water, especially
as regards the lowest part of the air; or with the heaven, to which
the higher region of air approaches, as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit.
ii, 13).

Reply Obj. 3: The production of animals is recorded with reference to
their adorning the various parts of the world, and therefore the days
of their production are separated or united according as the animals
adorn the same parts of the world, or different parts.

Reply Obj. 4: The nature of light, as existing in a subject, was made
on the first day; and the making of the luminaries on the fourth day
does not mean that their substance was produced anew, but that they
then received a form that they had not before, as said above (Q. 70,
[A. 1] ad 2).

Reply Obj. 5: According to Augustine (Gen. ad lit. iv, 15), after all
that has been recorded that is assigned to the six days, something
distinct is attributed to the seventh--namely, that on it God rested
in Himself from His works: and for this reason it was right that the
seventh day should be mentioned after the six. It may also be said,
with the other writers, that the world entered on the seventh day
upon a new state, in that nothing new was to be added to it, and that
therefore the seventh day is