Another Passage in the Sacred History of the Creation, Released from the Mishandling of Hermogenes.

Chapter XXX.—Another Passage in the Sacred History of the Creation, Released from the Mishandling of Hermogenes.

The following words will in like manner apparently corroborate the conjecture of Hermogenes, “And darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water;” ⁶⁴²⁶ as if these blended ⁶⁴²⁷ substances, presented us with arguments for his massive pile of Matter. ⁶⁴²⁸ Now, so discriminating an enumeration of certain and distinct elements (as we have in this passage), which severally designates “darkness,” “the deep,” “the Spirit of God,” “the waters,” forbids the inference that anything confused or (from such confusion) uncertain is meant. Still more, when He ascribed to them their own places, ⁶⁴²⁹ “darkness on the face of the deep,” “the Spirit upon the face of the waters,” He repudiated all confusion in the substances; and by demonstrating their separate position, ⁶⁴³⁰ He demonstrated also their distinction.  Most absurd, indeed, would it be that Matter, which is introduced to our view as “without form,” should have its “formless” condition maintained by so many words indicative of form, ⁶⁴³¹ without any intimation of what that confused body ⁶⁴³² is, which must of course be supposed to be unique, ⁶⁴³³ since it is without form. ⁶⁴³⁴ For that which is without form is uniform; but even ⁶⁴³⁵ that which is without form, when it is blended together ⁶⁴³⁶ from various component parts, ⁶⁴³⁷ must necessarily have one outward appearance; ⁶⁴³⁸ and it has not any appearance, until it has the one appearance (which comes) from many parts combined. ⁶⁴³⁹ Now Matter either had those specific parts ⁶⁴⁴⁰ within itself, from the words indicative of which it had to be understood—I mean “darkness,” and “the deep,” and “the Spirit,” and “the waters”—or it had them not. If it had them, how is it introduced as being “without form?” ⁶⁴⁴¹ If it had them not, how does it become known? ⁶⁴⁴²

Footnotes

494:6426

Gen. i. 2.

494:6427

Confusæ.

494:6428

Massalis illius molis.

494:6429

Situs.

494:6430

Dispositionem.

494:6431

Tot formarum vocabulis.

494:6432

Corpus confusionis.

494:6433

Unicum.

494:6434

Informe.

494:6435

Autem.

494:6436

Confusum.

494:6437

Ex varietate.

494:6438

Unam speciem.

494:6439

Unam ex multis speciem.

494:6440

Istas species.

494:6441

Non habens formas.

494:6442

Agnoscitur.