"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 Valentinuses and the
detestable heresy of the Manicheans which you may, without going far
wrong, call the putrid humor 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 us
to see the pebbles which form the bed of the river, but in a dark night
it is impossible for our glance to penetrate under the water.
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