The Earth was Invisible and Unfinished.
1. In the few words which have occupied us this morning we have found such a depth of thought that we despair of penetrating further. If such is the fore court of the sanctuary, if the portico of the temple is so grand and magnificent, if the splendour of its beauty thus dazzles the eyes of the soul, what will be the holy of holies? Who will dare to try to gain access to the innermost shrine? Who will look into its secrets? To gaze into it is indeed forbidden us, and language is powerless to express what the mind conceives. However, since there are rewards, and most desirable ones, reserved by the just Judge for the intention alone of doing good, do not let us hesitate to continue our researches. Although we may not attain to the truth, if, with the help of the Spirit, we do not fall away from the meaning of Holy Scripture we shall not deserve to be rejected, and, with the help of grace, we shall contribute to the edification of the Church of God.
The earth, says Holy Scripture, was invisible
and unfinished. The heavens and the earth were created without distinction. How
then is it that the heavens are perfect while the earth is still unformed and
incomplete? In one word, what was the unfinished condition of the earth? And
for what reason was it invisible? The fertility of the earth is its perfect
finishing; growth of all kinds of plants, the upspringing of tall trees, both
productive and sterile, flowers' sweet scents and fair colors, and all that
which, a little later, at the voice of God came forth from the earth to
beautify her, their universal Mother. As nothing of all this yet existed,
Scripture is right in calling the earth without form. We could also say of the
heavens that they were still imperfect and had not received their natural
adornment, since at that time they did not shine with the glory of the sun and
of the moon and were not crowned by the choirs of the stars. These bodies were
not yet created. Thus you will not diverge from the truth in saying that the
heavens also were without form. The earth was invisible for two reasons: it may
be because man, the spectator, did not yet exist, or because being submerged
under the waters which over-flowed the surface, it could not be seen, since the
waters had not yet been gathered together into their own places, where God
afterwards collected them, and gave them the name of seas. What is invisible?
First of all that which our fleshly eye cannot perceive; our mind, for example;
then that which, visible in its nature, is hidden by some body which conceals
it, like iron in the depths of the earth. It is in this sense, because it was
hidden under the waters, that the earth was still invisible. However, as light
did not yet exist, and as the earth lay in darkness, because of the obscurity
of the air above it, it should not astonish us that for this reason Scripture
calls it invisible.
2. But the corrupters of the truth, who,
incapable of submitting their reason to Holy Scripture, distort at will the
meaning of the Holy Scriptures, pretend that these words mean matter. For it is
matter, they say, which from its nature is without form and invisible — being
by the conditions of its existence without quality and without form and figure.
The Artificer submitting it to the working of His wisdom clothed it with a
form, organized it, and thus gave being to the visible world.
If matter is uncreated, it has a claim to the
same honours as God, since it must be of equal rank with Him. Is this not the
summit of wickedness, that an extreme deformity, without quality, without form,
shape, ugliness without configuration, to use their own expression, should
enjoy the same prerogatives with Him, Who is wisdom, power and beauty itself,
the Creator and the Demiurge of the universe? This is not all. If matter is so
great as to be capable of being acted on by the whole wisdom of God, it would
in a way raise its hypostasis to an equality with the inaccessible power of
God, since it would be able to measure by itself all the extent of the divine
intelligence. If it is insufficient for the operations of God, then we fall
into a more absurd blasphemy, since we condemn God for not being able, on
account of the want of matter, to finish His own works. The poverty of human
nature has deceived these reasoners. Each of our crafts is exercised upon some
special matter — the art of the smith upon iron, that of the carpenter on wood.
In all, there is the subject, the form and the work which results from the
form. Matter is taken from without — art gives the form — and the work is
composed at the same time of form and of matter.
Such is the idea that they make for themselves
of the divine work. The form of the world is due to the wisdom of the supreme
Artificer; matter came to the Creator from without; and thus the world results
from a double origin. It has received from outside its matter and its essence, and
from God its form and figure. They thus come to deny that the mighty God has
presided at the formation of the universe, and pretend that He has only brought
a crowning contribution to a common work, that He has only contributed some
small portion to the genesis of beings: they are incapable from the debasement
of their reasonings of raising their glances to the height of truth. Here below
arts are subsequent to matter — introduced into life by the indispensable need
of them. Wool existed before weaving made it supply one of nature's
imperfections. Wood existed before carpentering took possession of it, and
transformed it each day to supply new wants, and made us see all the advantages
derived from it, giving the oar to the sailor, the winnowing fan to the
labourer, the lance to the soldier. But God, before all those things which now
attract our notice existed, after casting about in His mind and determining to
bring into being time which had no being, imagined the world such as it ought
to be, and created matter in harmony with the form which He wished to give it.
He assigned to the heavens the nature adapted for the heavens, and gave to the
earth an essence in accordance with its form. He formed, as He wished, fire,
air and water, and gave to each the essence which the object of its existence
required. Finally, He welded all the diverse parts of the universe by links of
indissoluble attachment and established between them so perfect a fellowship
and harmony that the most distant, in spite of their distance, appeared united
in one universal sympathy. Let those men therefore renounce their fabulous
imaginations, who, in spite of the weakness of their argument, pretend to
measure a power as incomprehensible to man's reason as it is unutterable by
man's voice.
3. God created the heavens and the earth, but
not only half — He created all the heavens and all the earth, creating the
essence with the form. For He is not an inventor of figures, but the Creator
even of the essence of beings. Further let them tell us how the efficient power
of God could deal with the passive nature of matter, the latter furnishing the
matter without form, the former possessing the science of the form without
matter, both being in need of each other; the Creator in order to display His art,
matter in order to cease to be without form and to receive a form. But let us
stop here and return to our subject.
The
earth was invisible and unfinished. In saying In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth, the sacred writer passed over many things in silence,
water, air, fire and the results from them, which, all forming in reality the
true complement of the world, were, without doubt, made at the same time as the
universe. By this silence, history wishes to train the activity or our intelligence,
giving it a weak point for starting, to impel it to the discovery of the truth.
Thus, we are not told of the creation of water; but, as we are told that the
earth was invisible, ask yourself what could have covered it, and prevented it
from being seen? Fire could not conceal it. Fire brightens all about it, and
spreads light rather than darkness around. No more was it air that enveloped
the earth. Air by nature is of little density and transparent. It receives all
kinds of visible object, and transmits them to the spectators. Only one
supposition remains; that which floated on the surface of the earth was water —
the fluid essence which had not yet been confined to its own place. Thus the
earth was not only invisible; it was still incomplete. Even today excessive
damp is a hindrance to the productiveness of the earth. The same cause at the
same time prevents it from being seen, and from being complete, for the proper
and natural adornment of the earth is its completion: grain waving in the valleys
— meadows green with grass and rich with many colored flowers — fertile glades
and hill-tops shaded by forests. Of all this nothing was yet produced; the
earth was in travail with it in virtue of the power that she had received from
the Creator. But she was waiting for the appointed time and the divine order to
bring forth.
4. Darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Genesis 1:2 A new source for fables and most impious imaginations if one
distorts the sense of these words at the will of one's fancies. By darkness
these wicked men do not understand what is meant in reality — air not
illumined, the shadow produced by the interposition of a body, or finally a
place for some reason deprived of light. For them darkness is an evil power, or
rather the personification of evil, having his origin in himself in opposition
to, and in perpetual struggle with, the goodness of God. If God is light, they
say, without any doubt the power which struggles against Him must be darkness,
Darkness not owing its existence to a foreign origin, but an evil existing by
itself. Darkness is the enemy of souls, the primary cause of death, the
adversary of virtue. The words of the Prophet, they say in their error, show
that it exists and that it does not proceed from God. From this what perverse
and impious dogmas have been imagined! What grievous wolves, Acts 20:29 tearing
the flock of the Lord, have sprung from these words to cast themselves upon
souls! Is it not from hence that have come forth Marcions and Valentini, and
the detestable heresy of the Manicheans, which you may without going far wrong
call the putrid humour of the churches.
O man, why wander thus from the truth, and
imagine for yourself that which will cause your perdition? The word is simple
and within the comprehension of all. The earth was invisible. Why? Because the
deep was spread over its surface. What is the deep? A mass of water of extreme
depth. But we know that we can see many bodies through clear and transparent
water. How then was it that no part of the earth appeared through the water?
Because the air which surrounded it was still without light and in darkness.
The rays of the sun, penetrating the water, often allow us to see the pebbles
which form the bed of the river, but in a dark night it is impossible for our
glance to penetrate under the water. Thus, these words the earth was invisible
are explained by those that follow; the deep covered it and itself was in
darkness. Thus, the deep is not a multitude of hostile powers, as has been
imagined; nor darkness an evil sovereign force in enmity with good. In reality
two rival principles of equal power, if engaged without ceasing in a war of
mutual attacks, will end in self destruction. But if one should gain the
mastery it would completely annihilate the conquered. Thus, to maintain the
balance in the struggle between good and evil is to represent them as engaged
in a war without end and in perpetual destruction, where the opponents are at
the same time conquerors and conquered. If good is the stronger, what is there
to prevent evil being completely annihilated? But if that be the case, the very
utterance of which is impious, I ask myself how it is that they themselves are
not filled with horror to think that they have imagined such abominable
blasphemies.
It is equally impious to say that evil has its
origin from God; because the contrary cannot proceed from its contrary. Life
does not engender death; darkness is not the origin of light; sickness is not
the maker of health. In the changes of conditions there are transitions from
one condition to the contrary; but in genesis each being proceeds from its
like, and not from its contrary. If then evil is neither uncreate nor created
by God, from whence comes its nature? Certainly that evil exists, no one living
in the world will deny. What shall we say then? Evil is not a living animated
essence; it is the condition of the soul opposed to virtue, developed in the
careless on account of their falling away from good.
5. Do not then go beyond yourself to seek for
evil, and imagine that there is an original nature of wickedness. Each of us,
let us acknowledge it, is the first author of his own vice. Among the ordinary
events of life, some come naturally, like old age and sickness, others by
chance like unforeseen occurrences, of which the origin is beyond ourselves,
often sad, sometimes fortunate, as for instance the discovery of a treasure
when digging a well, or the meeting of a mad dog when going to the market
place. Others depend upon ourselves, such as ruling one's passions, or not
putting a bridle on one's pleasures, to be master of our anger, or to raise the
hand against him who irritates us, to tell the truth, or to lie, to have a
sweet and well-regulated disposition, or to be fierce and swollen and exalted
with pride. Here you are the master of your actions. Do not look for the
guiding cause beyond yourself, but recognise that evil, rightly so called, has
no other origin than our voluntary falls. If it were involuntary, and did not
depend upon ourselves, the laws would not have so much terror for the guilty,
and the tribunals would not be so without pity when they condemn wretches
according to the measure of their crimes. But enough concerning evil rightly so
called. Sickness, poverty, obscurity, death, finally all human afflictions,
ought not to be ranked as evils; since we do not count among the greatest boons
things which are their opposites. Among these afflictions, some are the effect
of nature, others have obviously been for many a source of advantage. Let us
then be silent for the moment about these metaphors and allegories, and, simply
following without vain curiosity the words of Holy Scripture, let us take from
darkness the idea which it gives us.
But reason asks, was darkness created with the
world? Is it older than light? Why in spite of its inferiority has it preceded
it? Darkness, we reply, did not exist in essence; it is a condition produced in
the air by the withdrawal of light. What then is that light which disappeared
suddenly from the world, so that darkness should cover the face of the deep? If
anything had existed before the formation of this sensible and perishable
world, no doubt we conclude it would have been in light. The orders of angels,
the heavenly hosts, all intellectual natures named or unnamed, all the
ministering spirits, did not live in darkness, but enjoyed a condition fitted
for them in light and spiritual joy.
No one will contradict this; least of all he
who looks for celestial light as one of the rewards promised to virtue, the
light which, as Solomon says, is always a light to the righteous, the light
which made the Apostle say Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12
Finally, if the condemned are sent into outer darkness evidently those who are
made worthy of God's approval, are at rest in heavenly light. When then,
according to the order of God, the heaven appeared, enveloping all that its circumference
included, a vast and unbroken body separating outer things from those which it
enclosed, it necessarily kept the space inside in darkness for want of
communication with the outer light. Three things are, indeed, needed to form a
shadow, light, a body, a dark place. The shadow of heaven forms the darkness of
the world. Understand, I pray you, what I mean, by a simple example; by raising
for yourself at mid-day a tent of some compact and impenetrable material, and
shutting yourself up in it in sudden darkness. Suppose that original darkness
was like this, not subsisting directly by itself, but resulting from some
external causes. If it is said that it rested upon the deep, it is because the
extremity of air naturally touches the surface of bodies; and as at that time
the water covered everything, we are obliged to say that darkness was upon the
face of the deep.
6. And the Spirit of God was borne upon the
face of the waters. Does this spirit mean the diffusion of air? The sacred
writer wishes to enumerate to you the elements of the world, to tell you that
God created the heavens, the earth, water, and air and that the last was now
diffused and in motion; or rather, that which is truer and confirmed by the
authority of the ancients, by the Spirit of God, he means the Holy Spirit. It
is, as has been remarked, the special name, the name above all others that
Scripture delights to give to the Holy Spirit, and always by the spirit of God
the Holy Spirit is meant, the Spirit which completes the divine and blessed
Trinity. You will find it better therefore to take it in this sense. How then
did the Spirit of God move upon the waters? The explanation that I am about to
give you is not an original one, but that of a Syrian, who was as ignorant in
the wisdom of this world as he was versed in the knowledge of the Truth. He
said, then, that the Syriac word was more expressive, and that being more
analogous to the Hebrew term it was a nearer approach to the scriptural sense.
This is the meaning of the word; by was borne the Syrians, he says, understand:
it cherished the nature of the waters as one sees a bird cover the eggs with
her body and impart to them vital force from her own warmth. Such is, as nearly
as possible, the meaning of these words — the Spirit was borne: let us
understand, that is, prepared the nature of water to produce living beings: a
sufficient proof for those who ask if the Holy Spirit took an active part in
the creation of the world.
7. And God said, Let there be light. Genesis
1:3 The first word of God created the nature of light; it made darkness vanish,
dispelled gloom, illuminated the world, and gave to all beings at the same time
a sweet and gracious aspect. The heavens, until then enveloped in darkness,
appeared with that beauty which they still present to our eyes. The air was
lighted up, or rather made the light circulate mixed with its substance, and,
distributing its splendour rapidly in every direction, so dispersed itself to
its extreme limits. Up it sprang to the very æther and heaven. In an instant it
lighted up the whole extent of the world, the North and the South, the East and
the West. For the æther also is such a subtle substance and so transparent that
it needs not the space of a moment for light to pass through it. Just as it carries
our sight instantaneously to the object of vision, so without the least
interval, with a rapidity that thought cannot conceive, it receives these rays
of light in its uttermost limits. With light the æther becomes more pleasing
and the waters more limpid. These last, not content with receiving its
splendour, return it by the reflection of light and in all directions send
forth quivering flashes. The divine word gives every object a more cheerful and
a more attractive appearance, just as when men in deep sea pour in oil they
make the place about them clear. So, with a single word and in one instant, the
Creator of all things gave the boon of light to the world.
Let there be light. The order was itself an
operation, and a state of things was brought into being, than which man's mind
cannot even imagine a pleasanter one for our enjoyment. It must be well
understood that when we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God,
this divine language does not mean to us a sound which escapes from the organs
of speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue; it is a simple sign of the
will of God, and, if we give it the form of an order, it is only the better to
impress the souls whom we instruct.
And God saw the light, that it was good.
Genesis 1:4 How can we worthily praise light after the testimony given by the
Creator to its goodness? The word, even among us, refers the judgment to the
eyes, incapable of raising itself to the idea that the senses have already
received. But, if beauty in bodies results from symmetry of parts, and the
harmonious appearance of colors, how in a simple and homogeneous essence like
light, can this idea of beauty be preserved? Would not the symmetry in light be
less shown in its parts than in the pleasure and delight at the sight of it?
Such is also the beauty of gold, which it owes not to the happy mingling of its
parts, but only to its beautiful color which has a charm attractive to the
eyes.
Thus again, the evening star is the most
beautiful of the stars: not that the parts of which it is composed form a
harmonious whole; but thanks to the unalloyed and beautiful brightness which
meets our eyes. And further, when God proclaimed the goodness of light, it was
not in regard to the charm of the eye but as a provision for future advantage,
because at that time there were as yet no eyes to judge of its beauty. And God divided the light from the darkness;
Genesis 1:4 that is to say, God gave them natures incapable of mixing,
perpetually in opposition to each other, and put between them the widest space
and distance.
8. And
God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. Genesis 1:5 Since
the birth of the sun, the light that it diffuses in the air, when shining on
our hemisphere, is day; and the shadow produced by its disappearance is night.
But at that time it was not after the movement of the sun, but following this
primitive light spread abroad in the air or withdrawn in a measure determined
by God, that day came and was followed by night.
And the
evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5 Evening is then the
boundary common to day and night; and in the same way morning constitutes the
approach of night to day. It was to give day the privileges of seniority that
Scripture put the end of the first day before that of the first night, because
night follows day: for, before the creation of light, the world was not in
night, but in darkness. It is the opposite of day which was called night, and
it did not receive its name until after day. Thus were created the evening and
the morning. Scripture means the space of a day and a night, and afterwards no
more says day and night, but calls them both under the name of the more
important: a custom which you will find throughout Scripture. Everywhere the
measure of time is counted by days, without mention of nights. The days of our
years, says the Psalmist. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life
been, Genesis 47:9 said Jacob, and elsewhere all the days of my life. Thus
under the form of history the law is laid down for what is to follow. And the
evening and the morning were one day. Why does Scripture say one day the first
day? Before speaking to us of the second, the third, and the fourth days, would
it not have been more natural to call that one the first which began the
series? If it therefore says one day, it is from a wish to determine the
measure of day and night, and to combine the time that they contain. Now
twenty-four hours fill up the space of one day — we mean of a day and of a
night; and if, at the time of the solstices, they have not both an equal
length, the time marked by Scripture does not the less circumscribe their
duration. It is as though it said: twenty-four hours measure the space of a
day, or that, in reality a day is the time that the heavens starting from one
point take to return there. Thus, every time that, in the revolution of the
sun, evening and morning occupy the world, their periodical succession never
exceeds the space of one day. But must we believe in a mysterious reason for this?
God who made the nature of time measured it out and determined it by intervals
of days; and, wishing to give it a week as a measure, he ordered the week to
revolve from period to period upon itself, to count the movement of time,
forming the week of one day revolving seven times upon itself: a proper circle
begins and ends with itself. Such is also the character of eternity, to revolve
upon itself and to end nowhere. If then the beginning of time is called one day
rather than the first day, it is because Scripture wishes to establish its
relationship with eternity. It was, in reality, fit and natural to call one the
day whose character is to be one wholly separated and isolated from all the
others. If Scripture speaks to us of many ages, saying everywhere, age of age,
and ages of ages, we do not see it enumerate them as first, second, and third.
It follows that we are hereby shown not so much limits, ends and succession of
ages, as distinctions between various states and modes of action. The day of the
Lord, Scripture says, is great and very terrible, Joel 2:11 and elsewhere Woe
unto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of
the Lord is darkness and not light. Amos 5:18 A day of darkness for those who
are worthy of darkness. No; this day without evening, without succession and
without end is not unknown to Scripture, and it is the day that the Psalmist
calls the eighth day, because it is outside this time of weeks. Thus whether
you call it day, or whether you call it eternity, you express the same idea.
Give this state the name of day; there are not several, but only one. If you
call it eternity still it is unique and not manifold. Thus it is in order that
you may carry your thoughts forward towards a future life, that Scripture marks
by the word one the day which is the type of eternity, the first fruits of
days, the contemporary of light, the holy Lord's day honoured by the
Resurrection of our Lord. And the evening and the morning were one day.
But, while I am conversing with you about the
first evening of the world, evening takes me by surprise, and puts an end to my
discourse. May the Father of the true light, Who has adorned day with celestial
light, Who has made the fire to shine which illuminates us during the night, Who
reserves for us in the peace of a future age a spiritual and everlasting light,
enlighten your hearts in the knowledge of truth, keep you from stumbling, and
grant that you may walk honestly as in the day. Romans 13:13 Thus shall you
shine as the sun in the midst of the glory of the saints, and I shall glory in
you in the day of Christ, to Whom belong all glory and power for ever and ever.
Amen.
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