The Worlds Great Sermons, Volume 1 | Page 3

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 overflowed the
surface, it could not be seen, since the waters had not yet been gathered
together into their own places, where God afterward collected them and
gave them the name of sea.
What is invisible? First of all, that which our fleshly eye can not
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 that the earth, in that it was hidden under the
waters, 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."
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 the matter is uncreated, it has a claim to the same honors as God,
since it must be of equal rank with Him. Is this not the summit of
wickedness that utter chaos, without quality, without form or shape,
ugliness without configuration, to use their own expression, should
enjoy the same prerogatives as He who is wisdom, power, and beauty
itself, the Creator and the Demiurge of the universe enjoys? This is not
all. If the 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
resourcelessness of human nature has deceived these reasoners. Each of
our crafts is exercised upon some special matter--the art of the smith
upon iron, that of the carpenter on wood. In all there is the subject, the
form and the work which results from the form. Matter is taken from
without--art gives the form--and the work is composed at the same time
of form and of matter.
Such is the idea that they make for themselves of the divine work. The
form of the world is due to the wisdom of the supreme Artificer; matter
came to the Creator from without; and thus the world results from a
double origin. It has received from outside its matter and its essence,
and from God its form and figure. They thus come to deny that the
mighty God has presided at the formation of the universe, and pretend
that he has only brought a crowning contribution to a common work;
that he has only contributed some small portion to the genesis of beings;
they are incapable, from the debasement of their reasonings, of raising
their glances to the height of truth. Here, below, arts are subsequent to
matter--introduced into life by the indispensable need of them. Wool
existed before weaving made it supply one of nature's imperfections.
Wood existed before carpentering took possession of it, and
transformed it each day to supply new wants and made us see all the
advantages derived from it, giving the oar to the sailor, the

winnowing-fan to the laborer, 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 that
which had no being, imagined the world such as it ought to be, and
created matter in harmony with the form which He wished to give it.
He assigned to the heavens the nature adapted for the heavens, and
gave to the earth an essence in accordance with its form. He formed, as
he wished, fire, air, and water, and gave to each the essence which the
object of its existence required.
Finally he welded all the diverse parts of the universe by links of
indissoluble attachment and established between them so perfect a
fellowship and