|
"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 whilst 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 colours, 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 hits 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 forth 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: corn waving in the valleys--meadows green with grass and
rich with many coloured 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." 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, 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 thyself that which
will cause thy 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 its 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 o 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 anti 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 dots 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 virtues 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 hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light." 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 coasts. 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: 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 aether 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 aether 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 I that thought cannot conceive, it receives
these rays of light in its uttermost limits. With light the aether 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. 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 colours,
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 colour 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; 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." 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." 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," 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" not "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," 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." 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, whilst 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." 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.
|
|
