In the beginning, almighty God created heaven and earth and all that pertains to them. Lastly he created two people, Adam and Eve, and from them came clans, whose descendants multiplied and spread across the whole world. But as time passed, people became dissimilar from one another. Some were good and held to the right beliefs, but the large majority turned to the desires of this world and neglected God’s commandments. For this reason God drowned the world and all its living things in a flood, except for those who were on the ark with Noah. After Noah’s flood, eight people remained alive, and they inhabited the world and from them are descended the families of man.
Again, as before, when their numbers had grown and they had settled throughout the world, the majority of mankind loved worldly desires and ambition. They abandoned their obedience to God, going so far that they no longer desired to name God. Who then was able to tell their sons about God’s wondrous deeds? Thus they lost God’s name, and nobody could be found anywhere in the world who knew his maker. Nevertheless, God granted men the earthly gifts of wealth and happiness to enable them to enjoy the world. He also gave them the wisdom to understand all earthly things and all the separate parts that could be seen of the sky and the earth.
People thought about these things, wondering what it could mean that the earth and animals and birds were in some ways similar, even though their natures were not alike. One of the earth’s features is that, when the high mountains are dug into, water springs up, and even in deep valleys it is not necessary to dig down any further for water. The same is true in animals and birds, whose blood is equally close to the surface on the head and feet. A second characteristic of the earth is that grass and flowers bloom every year, but in the same year everything withers and drops off. So it is with the animals and the birds: hair and feathers grow on them, but each year these fall away. The third characteristic of the earth is that when it is opened or dug into, grass grows over the soil that is closest to the surface. People think of rocks and stones as comparable to the teeth and bones of living creatures. Thus they understand that the earth is alive and has a life of its own. They also know that, in terms of years, the earth is wondrously old and powerful in its own nature. It gives birth to all living things and claims ownership over all that dies. For this reason, they gave it a name and traced their origins to it.
From their ancestors, people also learned that the earth, the sun and the heavenly bodies remain constant after many hundreds of years have been reckoned. But the paths of the heavenly bodies change unequally, some have longer courses whereas others shorter. From such observations, people supposed that perhaps a controlling being was guiding the heavenly bodies, deciding their paths according to his wishes, and that this being would be very powerful and mighty. They surmised that, if he ruled over the main elements of nature, he existed before the heavenly bodies. They also perceived that, if he ruled the movement of the heavenly bodies, he governed the sun’s shining, the moisture from the air, and also the resulting fruits of the earth and the winds in the sky that raised storms at sea.
People did not know where his kingdom was. Because of this, they believed that he ruled over all things on earth and in the sky, in the heavens and the heavenly bodies, and in the sea and the weather. In order to recount these beliefs and to fix them in memory, they gave their own names to all things, and the nature of their beliefs changed in many ways as different nations were established and languages branched out. People understood all matters in an earthly way because they had been granted no spiritual wisdom. Therefore they reckoned that all things were fashioned from material substances.