Chapter II.
To serve the Son of God as the source from which he was created for the adornment of the celestial lights. Fertility is given to the earth by God, not by the sun, as he was made subject to the day, just as the moon is subject to the night, which is also applicable to Christ and the Church.
5. But so that the testimony of your eyes may not seem insufficient, cleanse your ear, bring it close to the heavenly oracles. For every word stands with two or three witnesses. Hear the one saying: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens for the illumination of the earth (Gen. I, 14). Who says this? God says it. And to whom does He say it if not to the Son? Therefore, God the Father says: Let there be a sun; and the Son made the sun. For it was fitting that the Son of justice should make the sun of the world. So he led him into the light, he himself illuminated him, he himself granted him the power to create light. Therefore the sun was made; therefore it too serves, for it is said: You have founded the earth, and it remains: by your design the day remains, for all things serve you (Ps. 118:90-91). Indeed, if the day serves, how does the sun not serve, which was made to govern the day? How do the moon and stars not serve, which were made to govern the night? Indeed, the more grace the Creator has bestowed upon these things, the more the air shines with sunlight, the brighter the day, the darkness of the night is illuminated by the light of the moon and stars, the sky seems adorned with flowers, and the shining lights sparkle as if the paradise were radiant with living garlands of breathing roses. Therefore, the more beauty appears to have been bestowed upon these things, the more they should return. Whoever is entrusted with more, owes more. And therefore, it is well said by many that the adornment of the sky is called a precious necklace, because it is a collection of precious stars.
And so that we may know that the fertility of the earth is not attributed to the heat of the sun, but is entrusted to divine indulgence, the Prophet says: All things look to you, that you may give them food in due season: when you give it to them, they gather it up, when you open your hand, they are filled with good things (Ps. 104). And further: Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth (ibid., 30). And in the Gospel: Consider the birds of the air, that they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them (Matt. 6, 16). Therefore, the sun or the moon are not the authors of fertility; but God the Father imparts the gift of fertility to all through the Lord Jesus.
7. But the Prophet explained to us beautifully what he himself says: For God has made the sun to have power over the day, and the moon to have power over the night (Ps. CXXXV, 8 and 9). For even in this hundredth and third psalm, about which we have spoken above, he writes: He made the moon for appointed times, the sun knows its setting (Ps. CIII, 19). For when the sun begins to fulfill its hours, it recognizes its proper setting. Therefore, the sun is in the power of the day, and the moon is in the power of the night, which is compelled to obey the succession of times, and now it is filled with light and now emptied: although many seem to understand this passage mystically concerning Christ and the Church; that Christ acknowledged the passion of His own body, who said: Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son (John, XVII, 1), so that through His setting He might give eternal life to all, who were being pressed by the setting of perpetual death: and the Church has its own times, namely, of persecution and peace. For it seems that the moon wanes, but it does not wane. It can be overshadowed, but it cannot wane; because indeed it is diminished by the departure of some in persecutions, so that it may be filled by the confessions of martyrs, and its light, purified by the victories of shed blood for Christ, may pour forth a greater brightness of devotion and faith throughout the entire world. For the moon has a diminution of light, not of body, when it seems to deposit its light in its monthly cycle, so that it may be renewed by the sun; which can easily be understood, when it is obscured by no cloud, when clear and transparent air allows it to shine. For the orbit of the moon remains unaltered, though not in an entirely similar manner, so that a part of it shines forth. And just as it is accustomed to appear when it is full of light, so it is in its magnitude: but it appears deprived of its own light through a certain shadow. And hence its horns shine forth; because its body is spread out in a circle, and as if the light of a portion were failing, it is shown through.