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Hexaemeron

St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Savage, 1961

1. Hexameron, Book One: The First Day

The First Homily: Chapter 1

TO SUCH AN EXTENT have men’s opinions varied that some, like Plato and his pupils, have established three principles for all things; that is, God, Idea, and Matter. The same philosophers hold that these principles are uncreated, incorruptible, and without a beginning. They maintain that God, acting not as a creator of matter but as a craftsman who reproduced a model, that is, an Idea, made the world out of matter. This matter, which they call ὕλη, is considered to have given the power of creation to all things. The world, too, they regard as incorruptible, not created or made. Still others hold opinions such as those which Aristotle considered worthy of being discussed with his pupils. These postulate two principles, matter and form, and along with these a third principle which is called ‘efficient,’ which Aristotle considered to be sufficient to bring effectively into existence what in his opinion should be initiated.

What, therefore, is more absurd than to link the eternity of the work of creation with the eternity of God the omnipotent? Or to identify the creation itself with God so as to confer divine honors on the sky, the earth, and the sea? From this opinion there proceeds the belief that parts of the world are gods. Yet on the constitution of the world itself there is no small difference of opinion among philosophers.

Pythagoras maintains that there is one world. Others say that the number of worlds is countless, as was stated by Democritus, whose treatment of the natural sciences has been granted the highest authority by the ancients.¹ That the world always was and always will be is the claim of Aristotle. On the other hand, Plato ventures to assert that the world did not always exist, but that it will always exist. A great many writers, however, give us evidence from their works that they believe that the world did not always exist and that it will not exist forever.

How is it possible to arrive at an estimate of the truth amid such warring opinions? Some, indeed, state that the world itself is God, inasmuch as they consider that a divine mind seems to be within it, while others maintain that God is in parts of the world; others still, that He is in both—in which case it would be impossible to determine what is the appearance of God, or what is His number, position, life, or activity. If this evaluation of the world be followed, we have to understand God to be without sense, something which rotates, is round, is aflame, and impelled by certain movements—something driven, not by its own force, but by something external to it.²

Chapter 2

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses, a holy man, foresaw that these errors would appear among men and perhaps had already appeared. At the opening of his work he speaks thus: ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth.’³ He linked together the beginnings of things, the Creator of the world, and the creation of matter in order that you might understand that God existed before the beginning of the world or that He was Himself the beginning of all things. So in the Gospel, in answer to those who were inquiring of Him ‘Who art thou?’ He replied: ‘I am the beginning, I who speak with you.’⁴ All this was that you might know that He gave to all created things their beginnings and that He is the Creator of the world—not one who imitates matter under the guidance of some Idea, from which He formed His work, not in accordance with His will, but in compliance with a self-proposed model. Fittingly, too, Moses says: ‘In the beginning He created,’ in order that, where He had made clear the effect of the operation already completed, before giving an indication of its having been begun, He might thus express the incomprehensible speed of the work.

Our attention should be drawn to the person who uttered this statement. He was, of course, Moses, a man learned in all the science of the Egyptians. He was rescued from the river by the daughter of Pharao, who cherished him as if he were her own son and desired that he be trained and instructed in all phases of secular learning with aid furnished from the royal treasury. Although he received his name from water,⁵ he did not consider as true the hypothesis held by Thales, that all things are derived from water. And although he had been educated in the royal palace, he preferred, because of his love of justice, to undergo voluntary exile rather than, because of his love of justice, to be a servant of sin in the midst of pleasure as a high official at a tyrant’s court. Finally, before he was called to the task of liberating his people, he fell into disgrace, urged on, as he was, by his natural zeal for what is right to the extent of avenging the wrong done to his fellow countrymen. Wherefore, he tore himself away from pleasure and, shunning all the excitement of the royal palace, retired to a secluded spot in Ethiopia. There, removed from all other cares, he gave himself wholly to divine contemplation, in order that he might behold the glory of God face to face. This is in accord with the testimony of Scripture, that ‘there arose no greater prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.’⁶ He spoke to God the highest, not in a vision nor in dreams, but mouth to mouth. Plainly and clearly, not by figures nor by riddles,⁷ there was bestowed on him the gift of the divine presence.

And so Moses opened his mouth and uttered what the Lord spoke within him, according to the promise He made to him when He directed him to go to King Pharao: ‘Go therefore and I will open thy mouth and instruct thee what thou shouldst speak.’⁸ For, if he had already accepted from God what he should say concerning the liberation of the people, how much more should you accept what He should say concerning heaven? Therefore, ‘not in the persuasive words of wisdom,’ not in philosophical fallacies, ‘but in the demonstration of the Spirit and power,’⁹ he has ventured to say as if he were a witness of the divine work: ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth.’ He did not look forward to a late and leisurely creation of the world out of a concourse of atoms. He did not await a pupil, so to speak, of matter, who, by contemplating it, could fashion a world. Rather, he thought that God should be declared to be its Author. Being a man full of wisdom, he noticed that the substances and the causes of things visible and invisible were contained in the divine mind. He did not hold, as the philosophers teach, that a stronger conjunction of atoms furnished the cause of their continuous duration. He pointed out that those who give such tiny and unsubstantial first principles to heaven and earth were just weaving a web like a spider’s. How could these be joined together by chance as well as being dissolved in the same planless way, without a firm basis in the divine power of their Ruler? No wonder that they know not their Ruler who know not their God, by whom all things are ruled and governed. Let us follow him who knew both the Author and the Ruler, and let us not be led astray by vain opinions.

Chapter 3

‘In the beginning,’ he said. What a good arrangement that he should first assert what these men are accustomed to deny, that they may realize, too, that there was a beginning to the world, lest men be of the opinion that the world was without a beginning. For this reason David, too, in speaking of ‘heaven, earth, and sea,’ says: ‘Thou hast made all things in wisdom.’¹⁰ He [Moses] gave, therefore, a beginning to the world; he gave also to the creature infirmity, lest we believe him to be without a beginning, uncreated, and still partaking in the divine essence. And fittingly he added: ‘He created, lest it be thought there was a delay in creation. Furthermore, men would see also how incomparable the Creator was who completed such a great work in the briefest moment of His creative act, so much so that the effect of His will anticipated the perception of time. No one saw Him in the act of creation; they saw only the created work before them. Where, therefore, was there a delay, since you may read: ‘For He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created’?¹¹ He who in a momentary exercise of His will completed such a majestic work employed no art or skill so that those things which were not were so quickly brought into existence; the will did not outrun the creation nor the creation, the will.

You admire the work, you seek for a Creator who granted a beginning to such a great work, who so speedily made it? He [Moses] gives us the information immediately, saying that ‘God created heaven and earth.’ You have the name of the Creator; you ought not to have any doubts. He it is in whose name Melchisedech blessed Abraham, the forefather of many peoples, saying: ‘Blessed be Abram by the most high God, creator of heaven and earth.’¹² And Abraham believed God and said: ‘I raise my hand to the Lord God most high, creator of heaven and earth.’¹³ You see that this was not an invention made by man, but an announcement made by God. For God is Melchisedech, that is, ‘He is king of peace and justice, having neither the beginning of days nor end of life.’¹⁴ No wonder, therefore, that God, who is without end, gave a beginning to all things, so that what was not began to exist. No wonder that God, who contains all things in His power and incomprehensible majesty, created the things that are visible, since He also created those things that are not visible. Who would assert that the visible is more significant than the invisible, ‘for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal’?¹⁵ Who can doubt that God, who spoke by the Prophets, created these things, saying: ‘Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and weighed the heavens with his palm? Who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who hath understood the sense of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor; or who hath taught him?’¹⁶ Of Him we also read elsewhere: ‘For he holds the circuit of the earth and made the earth as nothing.’¹⁷ And Jeremias says: ‘The gods that have not made heaven and earth will perish from the earth and from among those places that are under heaven. He that made the earth by his power and prepared the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens at his knowledge and a multitude of waters in the heaven.’ And he added: ‘Man is become a fool for knowledge.’¹⁸ How can one who pursues the corruptible things of the world and thinks that from these things he can comprehend the truth of divine nature not become a fool as he makes use of the artifices of sophistry?

Since, therefore, so many oracles are heard in which God gives testimony that He made the world, do not then believe that it was without a beginning because the world is said to be, as it were, a sphere in which there would appear to be no beginning. And when it thunders, everything is stirred around about us as if in a whirling movement, so that one cannot easily comprehend either where the vortex begins or where it ends. The reason is this: To perceive by one’s senses the beginning of a circle is considered to be impossible. You cannot discover the beginning of a sphere or from what point the round disk of the moon begins or where it ends in its monthly wanings. Not even if you do not understand it yourself does this phenomenon cease to begin or in any way to come to an end. If you were to draw a circle with ink or pencil or with a compass, you could not easily detect with your eyes or mentally recall after an interval of time the point where you began or where you completed your circle. Yet you are conscious that you made a beginning and also came to an end. The reason is this: What has escaped the senses has not caused the truth to be undermined.

Again, what has a beginning also has an end; it is obvious that which has an end also has a beginning. The Saviour Himself tells us in the Gospel that there is to be an end of the world, saying: ‘For this world as we see it is passing away’; and ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away’; and further on: ‘Behold I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.’¹⁹

How, then, can philosophers maintain that the world is co-eternal with God and make the created equal with the Creator of all things? How can they hold that the material body of the world should be linked with the invisible and unapproachable divine nature?—so much the more, since, according to their own teachings, they cannot deny that an object whose parts are subject to corruption and mutability must as a whole be subject to the same influences which its own separate parts undergo.

Chapter 4

Therefore, He who uttered these words, ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth,’ teaches us that there is a beginning. 12The term ‘beginning’ has reference either to time or to number or to foundation. We see that this is true in the construction of a house: the foundation is the beginning. We know, too, from the authority of Scripture that one can speak of a beginning of a conversion or of a falling away.²⁰ The beginning of a work of art lies in the craft itself, which is the source of the individual skills of a series of craftsmen. There is also a beginning to good works. This consists in a most commendable purpose or end, as, for example, acts of charity have their source in deeds which are done to do honor to God, for we are especially urged to come to the aid of our fellow men. The term ‘beginning’ is applied also to the power of God. It is concerned with the category of time when we deal with the question of the time when God made heaven and earth, that is, at the commencement of the world, when it began to come into being, in the words of Wisdom: ‘When he prepared the heaven I was present.’²¹ If we apply the term to number, then it is right that you understand that at first He created heaven and earth; next, hills, regions, and the boundaries of the inhabitable world. Or we may understand that before He created the rest of visible creatures, day, night, fruit-bearing trees, and the various kinds of animals He created heaven and earth. But, if you apply the term to foundation, you will see, if you read the words of Wisdom, that the beginning is the foundation: ‘When he made the foundations of the earth, I was with him forming all things.’²²

There is also the beginning of good instruction, as it is said: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,’²³ since he who fears the Lord departs from error and directs his ways to the path of virtue. Except a man fear the Lord, he is unable to renounce sin.

In like manner, also, we can understand this statement: ‘This month shall be to you the beginning of months.’²⁴ although that statement is to be interpreted merely of time, because there is reference to the Pasch of the Lord, which is celebrated at the beginning of spring. Therefore, He created heaven and earth at the time when the months began, from which time it is fitting that the world took its rise. Then there was the mild temperature of spring, a season suitable for all things.

Consequently, the year, too, has the stamp of a world coming to birth, as the splendor of the springtime shines forth all the more clearly because of the winter’s ice and darkness now past. The shape of the circles of years to come has been given form by the first dawn of the world. Based on that precedent, the succession of years would tend to arise, and at the commencement of each year new seedlings would be produced, as the Lord God has said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the green herb and such as may seed, and the fruit tree, yielding fruit after its kind. And immediately the earth produced the green herb and the fruit-bearing tree.’²⁵ By this very fact both the constant mildness of divine Providence and the speed in which the earth germinates favor for us the hypothesis of a vernal period. For, although it was in the power of God to ordain creation at any time whatsoever and for earthly nature to obey, so that amid winter’s ice and frost earth might bear and produce fruits under the fostering hand of His celestial power, He refrained. It was not in His eternal plan that the land held fast in the rigid bonds of frost should suddenly be released to bear fruits and that blooming plants should mingle with frosts unsightly.²⁶

Wherefore, in order to show that the creation of the world took place in the spring, Scripture says: ‘This month shall be to you the beginning of months, it is for you the first in the months of the year,’²⁷ calling the first month the springtime. It was fitting that the beginning of the year be the beginning of generation and that generation itself be fostered by the gentler breezes. The tender germs of matter would be unable to endure exposure to the bitter cold of winter or to the torrid heat of summer.²⁸

At the same time, one may note, since it belongs here by right, that the entrance into this generation and into this way of life seems to have occurred at the time when the regular transition from this generation to regeneration takes place.

The sons of Israel left Egypt in the season of spring and passed through the sea, being baptized in the cloud and in the sea, as the Apostle said.²⁹ At that time each year the Pasch of Jesus Christ is celebrated, that is to say, the passing over from vices to virtues, from the desires of the flesh to grace and sobriety of mind, from the unleavened bread of malice and wickedness to truth and sincerity.³⁰ Accordingly, the regenerated are thus addressed: ‘This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it is for you the first in the months of the year.’

The person who is baptized leaves behind and abandons in a spiritual sense that prince of the world, Pharao, when he says: ‘I renounce thee, devil, both thy works and thy power.’³¹ No longer will he serve him, either by the earthly passions of his body or by the errors of a corrupt mind. On this occasion every evil deed of his sinks to the bottom like lead. Protected as he is by good works on his right and his left, he endeavors to cross over the waters of this life with step untainted.

Scripture also says in the book called Numbers: ‘Amalec, the beginning of nations, whose seed will be destroyed.’³² And, of course, Amalec is not the first of all nations. Amalec, in fact, is interpreted to mean the king of the wicked and by the wicked it is intended to mean the Gentiles. There is no reason why we should not accept him as one whose seed shall perish. His seed are the wicked and the unfaithful, to whom the Lord says: ‘You are the voice of your father the devil.’³³

A beginning in a mystical sense is denoted by the statement: ‘I am the first and last, the beginning and the end.’³⁴ The words of the Gospel are significant in this connection, especially wherein the Lord, when asked who He was, replied: ‘I am the beginning, I who speak with you.’³⁵ In truth, He who is the beginning of all things by virtue of His divinity is also the end, because there is no one after Him. According to the Gospel, the beginning of the ways of God is in His work, so that the race of men might learn by Him to follow the ways of the Lord and to perform the works of God.³⁶

Therefore, in this beginning, that is, in Christ, God created heaven and earth, because ‘All things were made through him and without him was made nothing that was made.’³⁷ Again: ‘In him all things hold together and he is the firstborn of every creature.’³⁸ Moreover, He was before every creature because He is holy. The firstborn indeed are holy, as ‘the firstborn of Israel,’³⁹ not in the sense of being before all, but because the firstborn are holier than the rest. The Lord is holy above all creatures for the very reason that He assumed a body. He alone is without sin and without vanity, while all ‘creation was made subject to vanity.’⁴⁰

We can also understand that the statement, ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth,’ has reference to a period. The beginning of a journey is not yet a completion, nor is the beginning of a building yet the finished house.

Finally, others have interpreted the Greek phrase ἐν κεφαλαίῳ as if in capite, by which is meant that in a brief moment the sum of the operation was completed. Then there are also those who interpret the beginning not in a temporal sense, but as something before time. Hence, they use the Greek word κεφάλαιον in the sense of its Latin equivalent, caput, indicating by this the sum of the work. Heaven and earth, in fact, are the sum of the invisible things which appear not only as the adornment of this world, but also as a testimony of invisible things and as ‘an evidence of things that are not seen,’⁴¹ according to the prophecy: ‘The heavens show forth the glory of God and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.’⁴² The Apostle, inspired by the above, expresses in other words the same thought when he says: ‘For his invisible attributes are understood through the things that are made.’⁴³ We can find it easy to understand, then, that the Creator of Angels, Dominations, and Powers is He who in a moment of His power made this great beauty of the world out of nothing, which did not itself have existence and gave substance to things or causes that did not themselves exist.

Chapter 5

This world is an example of the workings of God, because, while we observe the work, the Worker is brought before us. The arts may be considered in various aspects. There are those which are practical. These relate to the movement of the body or to the sound of the voice. When the movement or the sound has passed away, there is nothing that survives or remains for the spectators or the hearers. Other arts are theoretical. These display the vigor of the mind. There are other arts of such a nature that, even when the processes of operation cease, the handiwork remains visible. As an example of this we have buildings or woven material which, even when the craftsman is silent, still exhibit his skill, so that testimony is presented of the craftsman’s own work. In a similar way, this work is a distinctive mark of divine majesty from which the wisdom of God is made manifest. On beholding this, raising the eyes of his mind at the same time to the things invisible, the Psalmist says: ‘How great are thy works, O Lord; Thou hast made all things in wisdom.’⁴⁴

Certainly not without reason do we read that the world was made, for many of the Gentiles who maintain that the world is co-eternal with God, as if it were a shadow of divine power, affirm also that it subsists of itself. Although they admit that the cause of it is God, they assert that the cause does not proceed from His own will and rule. Rather, they make it to be analogous to the shadow in respect to the body. For the shadow stays close to the body and a flash follows the light more by natural association than by exercise of free will.

Therefore, Moses says most commendably that ‘God created heaven and earth.’ He did not say that He made it subsist or that He provided a cause for the world to exist. Rather, He created it as a good man makes what would be of use, as a philosopher propounding his best thoughts, as one all-powerful foreseeing what is to be the most magnificent. Again, how can one imagine a shadow where a body did not exist, since there cannot be a corporeal shadow where a body did not exist, since there cannot be a corporeal shadow of an incorporeal God? Also, how can the brilliance of incorporeal light be corporeal?

If you are seeking after the splendor of God, the Son is the image of the invisible God. As God is, so is the image. God is invisible; then the image also is invisible. It is ‘the brightness of the glory of His Father and an image of His substance.’⁴⁵ ‘In the beginning,’ we are told, ‘God created heaven and earth.’ And the world was therefore created and that which was not began to exist. And the word of God was in the beginning and always was.⁴⁶

The Angels, Dominations, and Powers, although they began to exist at some time, were already in existence when the world was created. For all things ‘were created, things visible and things invisible, whether Thrones or Dominations or Principalities or Powers. All things,’ we are told, ‘have been created through and unto him.’⁴⁷

What is meant by ‘created unto him’? Because He is the heir of the Father, from the fact that inheritance passed from the Father unto Him, as the Father says: ‘Ask of me and I will give thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance.’⁴⁸ This inheritance nevertheless passed to the Son and returns from the Son to the Father. And so in notable fashion the Apostle said in this place that the Son was the Author of all things, one who holds all things by His majesty. Addressing the Romans, he says concerning the Father: ‘For from him and through him and unto him are all things.’⁴⁹ ‘From him’ means the beginning and origin of the substance of the universe, that is, by His will and power. For all things began by His will, because one only is the Father, from whom all things come. By this is meant that He created through Himself, who created from what source He desired. ‘Through him’ means the continuation of the universe; ‘unto him’ means its end.

‘From him,’ therefore, is the material; ‘through him,’ the operation by which the universe is bound and linked together; ‘unto him,’ because as long as He wishes all things remain and endure by His power and the end of all things is directed toward the will of God, by whose free act all things are resolved.

Chapter 6

In the beginning of time, therefore, God created heaven and earth. Time proceeds from this world, not before the world. And the day is a division of time, not its beginning.

In the course of our account we may affirm that the Lord created day and night, which constitute time changes. And on the second day He created the firmament by which He divided the water which was under the heaven from the water above the heaven. Nevertheless, for our present purposes it is sufficient to assert that in the beginning He created the heaven, from which proceeds the preliminary cause of generation, and created the earth, in which existed the substance of generation.

In fact, with heaven and earth were created those four elements from which are generated everything in the world. The elements are four in number: heaven, fire, water, and earth—elements which are found mingled in all things. You may find fire also in earth, for it frequently arises from stones and iron; you may find it also in the heavens, since it may take fire and the skies may gleam with brilliant stars. In the heavens, too, we can perceive the presence of water, which is either above the heavens or from that high position falls frequently to earth in heavy rainstorms.

We can in many ways demonstrate this, if we observe that these elements are of advantage in the building of a church. But, since it is not profitable to be concerned with this, let us rather turn our attention to those matters which may be fruitful for eternal life.

It is sufficient, therefore, to set forth what we find in the writings of Isaias concerning the nature and the substance of the heavens. In modest and familiar language he described the nature of the heavens when he said that God ‘hath fixed the heavens like smoke,’⁵⁰ desiring to declare it to be not of solid but of subtle nature.

As to its form, what Isaias has said about the firmament of the heavens makes it more than clear that God created ‘heaven like a vault,’ because within the range of heaven all things which move in the sea and land are enclosed. This is the implication, too, of what we read that ‘God stretched out the heavens.’⁵¹ He stretched it out as you would stretch skins over tents, the dwelling places of the saints, or as a scroll, that the names of many be inscribed therein who merited the grace of Christ by their faith and devotion. To all such it is said: ‘Rejoice in this that your names are written in heaven.’⁵²

On the nature and position of the earth there should be no need to enter into discussion at this point with respect to what is to come. It is sufficient for our information to state what the text of the Holy Scriptures establishes, namely, that, ‘he hangeth the earth upon nothing.’⁵³

What need is there to discuss whether the earth hangs in the air or rests on the water? From this would arise a controversy as to whether the nature of the air which is slight and yielding is such as to sustain a mass of earth; also, the question would arise, if the earth rested on the waters, would not the earth by its weight fall and sink into the waters? Or would not the waters of the sea give way to the earth and, moved from its accustomed place, would not the sea pour itself over the borders of the land?

There are many, too, who have maintained that the earth, placed in the midst of the air, remains motionless there by its own weight, because it extends itself equally on all sides. As to this subject, let us reflect on what was said by the Lord to His servant Job when He spoke through the clouds: ‘Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Or upon what are the circles grounded? And further on: ‘I shut up the sea with doors, and I said: Hitherto thou shalt come and shalt go no further, but in thee shall be broken thy waves.’⁵⁴ Does not God clearly show that all things are established by His majesty, not by number, weight, and measures? For the creature has not given the law; rather, he accepts it or abides by that which has been accepted.

The earth is therefore not suspended in the middle of the universe like a balance hung in equilibrium, but the majesty of God holds it together by the law of His own will, so that what is steadfast should prevail over the void and unstable. The Prophet David also bears witness to this when he says: ‘He has founded the earth upon its own bases: it shall not be moved for ever and ever.’⁵⁵ There, certainly, God is asserted to be not merely an artist, but one who is omnipotent, as one who suspended the earth, not from some central point, but from the firmament according to His command, and did not allow it to sway. We ought not to accept the measurement as coming from the center, but as the result of a divine decree, because the measurement is not that of an art, but that of power, of justice and of knowledge. All things do not escape His wisdom as if they were immeasurable, but underlie His knowledge as if they were already measured. When we read: ‘I have established the pillars thereof,’⁵⁶ we cannot believe that the world was supported actually by columns, but rather by that power that props up the substance of the earth and sustains it.

How the disposition of the earth therefore depends upon the power of God, you may learn also where it is written: ‘He looketh upon the earth and maketh it tremble,’⁵⁷ and elsewhere: ‘Once again I move the earth.’⁵⁸ Therefore, the earth remains immovable not by its balances, but is moved frequently by the nod and free will of God, as Job, too, says: ‘The Lord shaketh it from its foundations, and the pillars thereof tremble.’ And elsewhere: ‘Hell is naked before him and there is no covering for death. He stretched out the north over the empty space and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his clouds. The pillars of heaven fled away and are in dread at his rebuke. By his power the seas are calmed, by his wisdom is struck down the sea-monster, and the gates of heaven fear him.’⁵⁹

By the will of God, therefore, the earth remains immovable. ‘The earth standeth for ever,’ according to Ecclesiastes,⁶⁰ yet is moved and nods according to the will of God. It does not therefore continue to exist because based on its own foundations. It does not stay stable because of its own props. The Lord established it by the support of His will, because ‘in his hand are all the ends of the earth.’⁶¹ The simplicity of this faith is worth all the proffered proofs.

Let others hold approvingly that the earth never will fall, because it keeps its position in the midst of the world in accordance with nature. They maintain that it is from necessity that the earth remains in its place and is not inclined in another direction, as long as it does not move contrary to nature but in accordance with it. Let them take occasion to magnify the excellence of their divine Artist and eternal Craftsman. What artist is not indebted to Him? ‘Who gave to women the knowledge of weaving or the understanding of embroidery?’⁶² However, I who am unable to comprehend the excellence of His majesty and His art do not entrust myself to theoretical weights and measures. Rather, I believe that all things depend on His will, which is the foundation of the universe and because of which the world endures up to the present.

For this belief one may find authority also in the words of the Apostle. It is written: ‘For creation was made subject to vanity—not by its own will, but by reason of him who made it subject—in hope,’ because creation itself will also be delivered from its slavery to corruption when the grace of divine reward will shine forth.⁶³

Why should I enumerate the theories which philosophers in their discussions have woven concerning the nature and composition of the substance of the heavens?

While some maintain that the heavens are composed of the four elements, others assign the formation of the heavens to what is called a fifth nature of a new body. They conceive this body to be ethereal and unmixed with fire, air, water or earth, whereas the elements of this world have their own special course and customary motion according to nature, the heavier elements sinking downward; the light and rare elements rising upwards. Each of these elements has, in fact, its own proper motion. However, in the circular quality of a sphere these elements are confused and lose the impulse of their course, inasmuch as a sphere is turned around in its orb and hence the elements above change place with the elements beneath and vice-versa. And where these movements have undergone change in accordance with nature, they state that by necessity the quality of the substances therein usually suffers a corresponding change. Well, then, should we defend the theory of an ethereal body, lest the heavens appear subject to corruption?

What is composed of corruptible elements, for example, must of necessity undergo dissolution. This is seen from the fact that these elements are of different nature and cannot have a simple and unalterable motion, since a diverse movement of the elements leads to discord. There cannot be, in fact, one motion appropriate to and in accord with elements that are opposite; what is suitable to the lighter elements does not befit the weightier one. Accordingly, where there is a necessary motion of the heavens upwards, this is weighed down by the terrestrial elements. On the other hand, when there is an impulse to a downward motion, there is fiery opposition from the fiery element, for it is being forced downward contrary to its usual course. Everything which is impelled in a contrary direction does not comply with its nature. Rather, it is quickly dissolved by necessity and is broken up into those parts out of which it seems to be composed, each part returning respectively to its own peculiar place. For this reason, other philosophers, noting that these elements are unstable, have been led to believe that the substance of the heavens and of the stars is ethereal. They introduced what they called a fifth corporeal nature, which they thought was sufficient to give an enduring permanency to the substance of the heavens.⁶⁴

But this opinion could not withstand the words of the Prophet, which the divine majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, our God, has confirmed in the Gospel. For David has said: ‘In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundest the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish but thou remainest, and all of them shall grow old as a garment. And as vesture thou shalt change them and they shall be changed. But thou art always the selfsame and thy years shall not fail.’⁶⁵ To such a degree did the Lord confirm this that He said: ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’⁶⁶

They labor to no purpose who, in order to claim perpetuity for the heavens, have thought it best to introduce the so-called fifth ethereal body, although they can see, as well as I can, that, if an entirely dissimilar part is attached to a body, it usually gives that body a defect rather than otherwise. At the same time, take note that the Prophet David, in mentioning the earth first and after that the heavens, believed that the work of the Lord should be made manifest. When he said: ‘He spoke and they were made,’⁶⁷ it is of no consequence what you assert first, since both were done at the same time, in order to preclude the idea that the heavens may appear to have been given the priority in the divine substance, so as to be considered of more importance by right of primogeniture in the order of created things.

Accordingly, let us leave these men to their contentions, men who contradict themselves by their mutual disputes. Sufficient for our salvation is not disputatious controversy but doctrine—not the cleverness of argumentation, but fidelity of the mind—that we may serve, not a creature, but our Creator, who is God, blessed for all ages.

The Second Homily: Chapter 7

‘And the earth was void and without form.’⁶⁸ The good architect lays the foundation first, and afterwards, when the foundation has been laid, plots the various parts of the building, one after the other, and then adds thereto the ornamentation. When the foundation of the earth has been laid and the substance of the heavens stabilized—these two are, as it were, the hinges of the universe—he added: ‘And the earth was void and without form.’ What is the meaning of the word ‘was’? Perhaps that men may not extend their hypothesis to refer to something without end and without beginning and say: See how matter, the so-called ὕλη of the philosophers, did not have a beginning according even to the divine Scriptures. However, to those who hold this belief you will reply that it is written: ‘And Cain was a husbandman.’ And concerning him who was called Jubal, Scripture states: ‘He was father of them who played upon the psalter and the cithern.’⁶⁹ Also: ‘There was a man in the land of Austide whose name was Job.’⁷⁰ Let them cease, therefore, to raise questions on the meaning of the word, especially since Moses had already asserted: ‘God created the earth.’ It ‘was’ therefore from the fact that it was ‘created.’

If they say that it was without beginning, maintaining that not only God, but also ὕλη, had no beginning, let them give a clear answer to the question: Where, indeed, was it? If it was in some place, then the place, too, is asserted to have been without a beginning, in which place was the material of the universe, which according to them had no beginning. But, if it seems absurd to think of a place, then perhaps we ought to imagine a flying earth, which, lacking a foundation, was suspended ‘by the oarage of its wings.’⁷¹ Whence, therefore, can we lay hold of wings for it, unless, perchance, we were to interpret and apply thereto the words of the Prophet: ‘From the wings of the earth we have heard prodigies,’ and ‘Woe to the land to the oarage of ships.’⁷²

But, following this interpretation, in what air did the earth fly? It could not fly without air. Yet air could not yet have existed, because without material for the world no distinction of the elements had been made, since up to this point the elements had not been created. Where, then, was this material supported ‘by the oarage of wings’? It was not in the air, because the air is a body of the world. The Scriptures teach us that air is a body, because ‘when an arrow is shot at a mark,’ aimed at by the bowman, ‘the air presently cometh together again.’⁷³

Where, therefore, was the ὕλη [material]? Are you to suppose by some notion that it was God? God, a spirit most pure and incomprehensible, with a nature that is invisible and incorruptible, who ‘dwells in light inaccessible,’⁷⁴ was therefore the place of the material of the world? And was God a part of this world, of which not even the meanest of the servants of God have a part, as we are told in the Scriptures: ‘They are not of this world, even as I am not of the world.’⁷⁵

How, then, have things visible associated themselves with the invisible and how has that which is disorganized been linked with Him who has bestowed order and beauty on all things? Unless, perchance, they believe that the earth was invisible of itself in its substance, because it had been said: ‘And the earth was invisible.’ Or they might hold that the earth was invisible for the reason that when covered by water it could not be seen by mortal eyes, just as much as that which lies in deep water escapes the notice of our sharpest eyes. Nothing, in fact, is invisible to God, but something created in this world has, in this instance, been thought to be invisible to him by one who, too, is created.

Invisible, also, was the earth, because the light which illumined the world did not as yet exist, nor did the sun. The luminaries of the sky were, in fact, created later. But, if the rays of the sun frequently illuminate even that which is covered by water and reveal by the brilliance of its light things immersed in the depths, who would doubt that He can see what is invisible in the deep? Unless, perchance, we are to hold that the earth was invisible, because the earth was not yet visited by the Word and protection of God—the earth which did not yet contain man, for whose sake the Lord looked down upon the earth, as it is written: ‘The Lord hath looked down upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God.’ And elsewhere He says: ‘Thou hast caused judgment to be hurled from heaven: the earth trembled and was still.’⁷⁶ And justly is the earth called invisible, because it was without order, not having as yet received from its Creator its appropriate form and beauty.

And perhaps they may say: Why did not God, in accordance with the words, ‘He spoke and they were made,’⁷⁷ grant to the elements at the same time as they arose their appropriate adornments, as if He, at the moment of creation, were unable to cause the heavens immediately to gleam with studded stars and the earth to be clothed with flowers and fruit? That could very well have happened. Yet Scripture points out that things were first created and afterwards put in order, lest it be supposed that they were not actually created and that they had no beginning, just as if the nature of things had been, as it were, generated from the beginning and did not appear to be something added afterwards. ‘And the earth was without form,’ we read, yet these same philosophers accord to it the privileges of immortality which they grant God. What would they say if its beauty shone forth from the beginning? The earth is described as immersed in water, condemned, as it were, to a shipwreck in its own first principles. Yet, some do not believe that the earth was made. What, then, if it lay claim to ornament from the moment of its creation?

Add to this the fact that God willed it that we be imitators of Himself, so that we first make something and afterwards beautify it. We would run the danger of attempting two projects at one time and accomplishing neither. And our faith grows strong step by step. For that reason, God created first and afterwards beautified, in order that we may believe that He who made and He who adorned were one and the same person. Otherwise, we might suppose that one adorned and that another performed the act of creation, whereas the same person achieved both, creating first and afterwards adorning, in order that one act might be believed as a result of the other.

You find in the Gospel clear testimony on this subject. For the Lord, when proposing to raise Lazarus to life, first ordered the Jews to remove the stone from the sepulcher, in order that, on seeing him dead, they might believe afterwards that he had risen from the dead. Next, He called Lazarus by name, and he arose and came forth with his hands and feet bound.⁷⁸ Could not He who was able to restore the dead to life also remove the stone? And could not He who was able to restore the dead man to life also set him free from his bonds? Could not He who granted Lazarus power to walk with his feet still bound also render it possible for him to come forth with his fetters already broken? Of course, we see that He wished to point out first that the man was dead, so that they might believe with their own eyes. The next step was to raise him from the dead and the third to bid them unbind with their own hands the mortuary bands. By this process faith might be engendered in the hearts of the incredulous and belief come to life gradually, step by step.

Chapter 8

God created first, therefore, heaven and earth, but He did not will them to be perpetual; rather, they subserve the final end of our corruptible nature. Hence, in the book of Isaias He says: ‘Lift up your eyes to heaven and look down on the earth beneath: for the heavens have the compactness of smoke and the earth shall be worn away like a garment.’⁷⁹ This is the earth which before was unformed. The seas were not yet confined within their limits and the earth was inundated by a deep flood. Observe that even now the earth has become unsightly with marshy mire and is not subject to the plough⁸⁰ where water has everywhere covered the land. The land was, therefore, unformed, since it was as yet unploughed by the industrious attentions of the farmer, for the cultivator had still to appear. It was unformed because it was devoid of growing plants. The banks of streams lacked their grassy slopes; the land was not shady with groves or productive in fruits of the earth. The overhanging brows of the mountains did not produce shade; flowers did not as yet give forth odors; still unknown were the delights of the vineyard. Correctly, then, was the land called unformed which was devoid of ornament and which did not present to view the linked rows of budding vine shoots. God wished to show us that the world itself would have no attraction unless a husbandman had improved it with varied culture. The very heavens, when seen covered with clouds, often inspire men with dread fear and with sadness of heart. The earth, when saturated with rain, arouses our aversion. Who is not moved to fright by the sight of stormy seas? Most admirable is the aspect of created things. But what would they have been without light, what would they have been without heat and without the gathering together of waters, in which element some have supposed that this universe of ours, when once immersed, had its primal origin. Take away the sun from the earth; take away the round spheres of stars from the sky—every object is then shrouded in dread darkness. Thus it was before the Lord poured light into this world.

And for that reason Scripture says: ‘Darkness was over the abyss.’⁸¹ There was darkness because the brilliance of light was absent; there was darkness because the air itself was dark. Water itself beneath a cloud is dark because ‘dark are the waters in the clouds of air.’⁸² There was, therefore, darkness over the abyss of waters. I am not of the opinion that by darkness are to be understood the powers of evil, in that their wickedness was brought about by God. The reason is, of course, that evil is not a substance, but an accident and that it is a deviation from the goodness of nature.

Accordingly, a discussion of the question of evil in the constitution of the world should be laid aside for the moment, lest we seem to mingle that which is depraved with the work that is divine and with the beauty of the created. Especially should this be so for the reason that Scripture adds: ‘And the spirit of God moved over the waters.’⁸³ Although some consider this spirit as air, others think of it as the vital breath of the air which we take in and emit. However, in agreement with the saints and the faithful we consider this to be the Holy Spirit, so that the operation of the Holy Trinity clearly shines forth in the constitution of the world. Preceded by the statement that ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth,’ that is, God created it in Christ or the Son of God had, as God, created it or God created it through the Son, since ‘all things were made through him and without him was made nothing that was made.’⁸⁴ There was still to come the plenitude of the operation in the Spirit, as it is written: ‘By the word of the Lord the heavens were established and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth.’⁸⁵ As we are instructed in the psalm concerning the work of the Word, which is the work of God, and on the power which the Holy Spirit bestowed, so is echoed here the prophetic oracle, namely, that ‘God spoke’ and ‘God created’ and ‘the Spirit of God moved over the waters.’ While adorning the firmament of the heavens, the Spirit fittingly moved over the earth, destined to bear fruit, because by the aid of the Spirit it held the seeds of new birth which were to germinate according to the words of the Prophet: ‘Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.’⁸⁶ Finally, the Syriac text, which is close to the Hebrew and agrees with it in word for the most part, expresses it in this fashion: ‘And the Spirit of God brooded over the waters,’ that is, gave life, in order to help the birth of new creatures and by cherishing them give them the breath of life. For the Holy Spirit, too, is called Creator, as we read in Job: ‘The divine Spirit which made me.’⁸⁷

If, therefore, the Holy Spirit moved over the waters, there could not exist, just where the Spirit claimed such honor, the darkness of forces which are contrary to it. But if, as some would have it, we are to interpret ‘Spirit’ as ‘air,’ let these people answer the question: How did the Scripture speak of the ‘Spirit of God,’ when it would have been sufficient to mention simply ‘Spirit’?

These would have it, then, that first the four elements were generated by the Lord our God—that is, heaven, earth, sea, and air—for the reason that fire and air are the causes of things, while earth and water furnish the material from which are derived the beauty and form of the world. Where, therefore, could the darkness of the spirits of evil find a place, when the world has vested itself with the beauty of this august figure? Are we to hold that God at the same time created evil? But evil arose from us, and was not made by a Creator God. It is produced by the lightness of our morals; it has no prior right over any created thing, nor has it the dignity of a natural substance. It is a fault due to our mutability and is an error due to our fall. God desires it to be eradicated from the souls of each and everyone. How, then, could He have generated it? The Prophet cries out: ‘Cease to do perversely.’⁸⁸ And holy David has stated it with definiteness: ‘Turn away from evil and do good.’⁸⁹ How, then, can we assign to God the beginning of evil?

But this is the fatal theory of those who thought the Church should be thrown into confusion. From this are derived the sect of Marcio, of Valentinus;⁹⁰ hence, too, that deadly pest of the Manichaeans which attempted to bring contagion to the minds of the faithful. Why do we search of ourselves to see in the light of life the darkness of death? Divine Scripture confers salvation on us and is fragrant with the perfume of life, so that he who reads may acquire sweetness and not rush into danger to his own destruction. Read with simplicity, man; I would not encourage you, a misdirected interpreter, to dig up meanings for yourself. The language is simple: ‘God created heaven and earth.’ He created what was not, not what was. And the earth was invisible, because water flowed over it and covered it. Darkness was diffused over it, because there was not yet the light of day, or the rays of the sun which can reveal even what lies hid beneath the waters.

Why, then, do they say that God created evil, although from principles contrary and opposed nothing whatsoever is generated? Light does not generate death nor does light give birth to darkness. And the processes of generation are not like the mutability of human emotions. The latter change from one opposite principle to another according to the various questions at issue. The former are not deflected from one point to its opposite, but, being created either by their authors or by causes of the same nature, they stand in a similar relationship to their Creator.

What, then, are we to say? If evil has no beginning, as if uncreated or not made by God, from what source did nature derive it? Because no rational being has denied that evil exists in a world like this in which accident and death are so frequent. Yet from what we have already said we can gather that evil is not a living substance, but is a deviation of mind and soul away from the path of true virtue, a deviation which frequently steals upon the souls of the unaware. The greater danger is not, therefore, from what is external to us, but from our own selves. Our adversary is within us, within us is the author of error, locked, I say, within our very selves. Look closely on your intentions; explore the disposition of your mind; set up guards to watch over the thoughts of your mind and the cupidities of your heart. You yourself are the cause of your wickedness; you yourself are the leader of your own crimes and the instigator of your own misdeeds. Why do you summon an alien nature to furnish an excuse for your sins?

Would that you did not give rein to yourself; would that you did not rush recklessly on; would that neither by immoderate desires nor through wrath or cupidity you involved yourself in bonds which trap us like so many nets. And surely it is in our power to moderate our desires; to curb our anger; to check our evil passions. It is also within our power to give ourselves up to luxurious living; to add fire to our lusts; to stir up the fires of our anger or lend our ears to one who ministers to them; to be unduly puffed up by pride; to allow ourselves to be carried away by acts of cruelty rather than that we should bend ourselves to humble deeds and find delight in acts of kindliness.

Why, then, man, do you accuse nature? Nature has old age and illness which serve as so many impediments to our lives. But old age becomes sweeter and more useful by its wise counsels and characters. It becomes more ready to face inevitable death with constancy and becomes more heroic in quelling lusts of the flesh.⁹¹ Infirmity of the body, too, is conducive to sobriety of mind. Hence the Apostle says: ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’ Accordingly, he gloried not in his virtues but in his infirmities. A divine saying also flashes forth from that salutary oracle: ‘Strength is made perfect in weakness.’⁹² We ought to guard ourselves against the ‘sins of youth’⁹³ which arise from free acts of our will, and we should avoid the irrational passions of the body. Let us not search outside of ourselves or attribute to others the causes of that of which we ourselves are sole masters. Let us, rather, recognize these causes as belonging to us alone. We ought to attribute to ourselves the choice of an evil which we are unable to do without consent of the will rather than ascribe the same to others. In the courts of the world guilt so is imputed and punishment meted out, not to those compelled to crime by necessity, but to those who have acted voluntarily. It is true that the person who in a rage slays another is subject to the penalty of death. Why, even according to the decree of the divine law itself, a person who inadvertently kills another may expect impunity by accepting the possibility of exile, if he wishes to escape punishment.⁹⁴

This, then, may be stated on the question of what in the real sense of the word seems to be evil. Wrong does not exist except when the mind and conscience are implicated and bound up with the guilt. Moreover, no intelligent person would call poverty, disgrace, or death an evil. He would not list them in the category of evils, because they are not the opposite of those goods held in the highest esteem—goods which seem to fall to our lot either from causes which stem from nature or from the favorable circumstance of our lives.

Not without a purpose have we introduced this digression in order to prove that the phrase ‘darkness and the abyss’ should be taken in literal sense. In fact, the darkness under discussion comes especially from the shadow cast from the heavens, since every body produces a shadow by which it casts a shade either on what is near by or on what is beneath it, and above it casts a shadow on those objects which it seems to cover or include. The firmament of the heavens does include the earth, because, as we have shown above, heaven stretches itself out like a vault. Therefore, darkness was not an original substance, but the mist of darkness accompanied like a shadow the body of the world. Accordingly, at the instant that the world arose at the divine command there was enclosed within it a shadow. Just as if a person in the midst of a plain illumined by the midday sun were, at the spur of the moment, to hedge some spot and cover it with thick leafy branches, would not his hut with its rude, stage-like background become rather all the more obscure within in contrast to the exterior, so brilliantly illuminated?⁹⁵ Or why was a place closed on all sides called a cave unless it is that it is a place obscured by darkness and forbidding because of its blackness?⁹⁶

This darkness then was over the abyss of waters. For the Gospel teaches us that the abyss is a mass of deep waters, where, in fact, the demons entreated the Saviour ‘not to command them to depart into the abyss.’ But He who taught that the will of the demons should not be obeyed caused them to enter into the bodies of swine. And the herd of swine rushed down the cliff into the pool, so that the demons did not escape what they rebelled against, but were, as they deserved, submerged in the depths.⁹⁷ Unformed, therefore, was the appearance and shape of this world.

Chapter 9

‘And the Spirit of God,’ he said, ‘moved over the waters. And God said: Be light made.’⁹⁸ Rightly, therefore, was the Spirit of God sent forth where the divine operation was to begin. He said: ‘Be light made.’ Whence should the voice of God in Scripture begin, if not with light? Whence should the adornment of the world take its beginning, if not from light?

There would be no purpose in the world if it were not seen. In fact, God Himself was in the light, because He ‘dwells in light inaccessible,’ and He ‘was the true light that enlightens every man who comes into this world.’⁹⁹ But He wishes the light to be such as might be perceived by mortal eyes. The person who desires to erect a house as a fitting habitation for the head of a family determines first how it may receive light abundantly before he lays the foundation. This is the first requisite. If this is lacking, the whole house is without beauty and is uninhabitable. It is light which sets off the other beautiful objects in the house.

‘Let light be made,’ He said. When the word ‘light’ is used, it is not intended to mean merely the preparation for performance; rather, it is the splendor of the operation itself in action. The Fabricator of nature uttered the word ‘light’ and also created it. The Word of God is His will; the work of God is nature. He created light and illumined the darkness. ‘And God said, be light made, and light was made.’¹⁰⁰ He did not speak in order that action should follow; rather, the action was completed with the Word. Hence, David appropriately uttered the statement, ‘He spoke and they were made,’¹⁰¹ because the fulfillment of the act accompanied the Word.

God, therefore, is the Author of light and the place and cause of darkness is the world. But the good Author uttered the word ‘light’ so that He might reveal the world by infusing brightness therein and thus make its aspect beautiful. Suddenly, then, the air became bright and darkness shrank in terror from the brilliance of the novel brightness. The brilliance of the light which suddenly permeated the whole universe overwhelmed the darkness and, as it were, plunged it into the abyss. Fittingly, therefore, and appropriately was it said: ‘Light was made.’ For, just as light quickly illuminated the heavens, the earth, and the seas, and in a moment, without our being aware of it, when the land is unveiled at the splendor of dawn, this light is perceived as it encompasses us, in such a manner should its birth be explained. Why do we marvel at the fact that God simply said ‘light’ and flashed forth brilliance on a darkling world, when we know that, if a person immersed in water should emit oil from his mouth, all that which is hidden in the deep is made clearer?

God did not speak as one would utter a sound through the vocal organs or as a movement of the tongue might produce an exhortation from heaven or as a sound of words might strike this air of ours. His purpose was to reveal the knowledge of His will by the effects of His work.

‘And He divided the light from the darkness and God saw the light that it was good.’¹⁰² He spoke, and no one heard the sound of His voice. He divided, and no one noticed the effort expended in His work. He saw, and no one observed the glance of His eyes. ‘And God saw,’ he says, ‘the light that it was good.’ He did not see that of which He had no knowledge, nor did He approve what He before had neither known nor seen. It is a fitting quality of good works that they need no one to applaud them outside of oneself, but when they are seen give evidence of their own intrinsic value. It is more important that one be approved in the sight of men rather than be lauded in their conversation, since such a person relies on his own testimony and not on the recommendations of others.

But if in our own experience we are able to perceive by means of our eyes, by the aid of which the beauty of natural objects is immediately appreciated, how much more is this true in the case of God! He sees all things which He approves and approves of all things which He sees, according to the Scriptures: ‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the just.’¹⁰³ The nature of light is of such a kind that its value does not rest in number or measurement or weight as is the case with other things. Its whole value comes from its appearance. Accordingly, Scripture fittingly described the nature of light, which pleases us when seen, inasmuch as it furnishes us with the ability to see. Not undeservingly was light able to find as its eulogist one who first justly praised it, since it was also responsible for making the other objects in the world worthy of commendation. God, therefore, saw the light and illumined it with His countenance and saw that it was good. And this is a conviction not only on the part of God, but of all mankind. And so the value of light is conceded to be great, not only because of its splendor, but also on account of its usefulness. For this reason there was a division made between light and darkness, so that, when separated, there would seem to be no grounds for confusing the nature of light and the nature of darkness.

‘And God called the light, day, and the darkness, night,’¹⁰⁴ in order that day and night might be distinguished even in name. For this reason we notice that the rising of light rather than that of the sun seems to open the day. The beginning of day closes up night’s exit and a definite time limit and an established boundary seem to have been prescribed for night and day. The sun gives the day its brilliance; the light, its existence. The sky is often overlaid with clouds, so that the sun is hidden and its rays are not seen. Still, the presence of light points to the fact that it is day and that darkness has vanished.

Chapter 10

‘And there was made evening and morning, one day.’¹⁰⁵ Some inquire why Scripture first mentions evening and after that, morning? Would not this appear to mean that night came before day? They do not notice that this is preceded by a reference to day: ‘And God called light, day, and the darkness, night,’ and then, again, because the evening is the termination of day and morning is the termination of night.

Therefore, in order to give preference and primacy to the day of creation, Scripture first indicated the end of a day, which night was soon to follow, and then it added the termination of night. There is a further reason why Scripture could not prefer night to day: It included in the term ‘day’ the space of time for both day and night and bestowed on that term the prestige, as it were, of a principal name. And this usage is found in Scripture to confer a name on the more important element. This is proved by numerous examples, for Jacob has said also: ‘The days of my life have been short and wretched.’¹⁰⁶ And again: ‘All the days of my life.’¹⁰⁷ And David set down: ‘The days of my years’;¹⁰⁸ he did not say also ‘the night.’ Hence we note that those events which are now recorded in the form of history have established for themselves a precedent for the relation of future events.

The beginning of the day rests on God’s word: ‘Be light made, and light was made.’¹⁰⁹ The end of day is the evening. Now, the succeeding day follows after the termination of night. The thought of God is clear. First He called light ‘day’ and next He called darkness ‘night.’

In notable fashion has Scripture spoken of a ‘day,’ not the ‘first day.’ Because a second, then a third, day, and finally the remaining days were to follow, a ‘first day’ could have been mentioned, following in this way the natural order.¹¹⁰ But Scripture established a law that twenty-four hours, including both day and night, should be given the name of day only, as if one were to say the length of one day is twenty-four hours in extent. In such fashion, also, is the generation of men reckoned which is understood to include that of women, also. Because what is secondary is bound up with what is primary, the nights in this reckoning are considered to be component parts of the days that are counted. Therefore, just as there is a single revolution of time, so there is but one day. There are many who call even a week one day, because it returns to itself, just as one day does, and one might say seven times revolves back on itself. This is the form of a circle, to begin with itself and to return to itself. Hence, Scripture speaks at times of an age of the world. Although in other passages there is a mention of an age, there Scripture seems to mean the diversities in public and private affairs: ‘For the day of the Lord is great and glorious.’¹¹¹ And elsewhere: ‘What avail is it to you to seek the day of the Lord.’¹¹² And here is meant darkness and not light, for it is clear that that day when innocence will gleam forth and guilt be tormented is dark to those who are conscious of evil deeds and unworthy acts. Moreover, Scripture teaches us that the everlasting day of eternal reward is to be one in which there is no interchange or intermission of day and night.

Fittingly, then, in calling one day the interchange of both times Scripture closes this period with morning, so that we are taught that day begins with light and in light comes to an end. This is true because day and night could not be considered as a unit of time unless that time has been completely traversed. Hence, ‘let us walk becomingly as in the day’ and ‘let us lay aside the works of darkness.’¹¹³ We know that night is passed in sleep and forgetfulness so that the body may find rest. Night is not designed for the performance of any task or of any transaction. Let us not be sharers in feasting and drunkenness, in chambering and immodesty. Let us not say: Darkness and walls cover us and who knows if the Most High will see us.¹¹⁴ But let there be in us a love of light and an esteem of goodness, so that, as if walking in daylight, we may desire that our works shine in the presence of God. To Him be honor, praise, glory, and power, together with our Lord Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit, from eternity and now and always, for ever and ever. Amen.¹¹⁵

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