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Confessiones

Caput 21

Item quod adtinet ad intellectum verborum sequentium, ex illis omnibus veris aliud sibi tollit, qui dicit, terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, id est corporale illud, quod fecit deus, adhuc materies erat corporearum rerum informis, sine ordine, sine luce: aliud qui dicit, terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, id est hoc totum, quod caelum et terra appellatum est, adhuc informis et tenebrosa materies erat, unde fieret caelum corporeum et terra corporea cum omnibus quae in eis sunt corporeis sensibus nota: aliud qui dicit, terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, id est hoc totum, quod caelum et terra appellatum est, adhuc informis et tenebrosa materies erat, unde fieret caelum intellegibile -- quod alibi dicitur caelum caeli -- et terra, scilicet omnis natura corporea, sub quo nomine intellegatur etiam hoc caelum corporeum, id est unde fieret omnis invisibilis visibilisque creatura: aliud qui dicit, terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, non illam informitatem nomine caeli et terrae scriptura appellavit, sed iam erat, inquit, ipsa informitas, quam terram invisibilem et incompositam tenebrosamque abyssum nominavit, de qua caelum et terram deum fecisse praedixerat, spiritalem scilicet corporalemque creaturam; aliud qui dicit, terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, id est informitas quaedam iam materies erat, unde caelum et terram deum fecisse scriptura praedixit, totam scilicet corpoream mundi molem in duas maximas partes superiorem atque inferiorem distributam, cum omnibus quae in eis sunt usitatis notisque creaturis.

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The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books

Chapter XXI.--Of the Explanation of the Words, "The Earth Was Invisible."

30. And as concerns the understanding of the following words, out of all those truths he selected one to himself, who saith, "But the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep,"--that is, "That corporeal thing, which God made, was as yet the formless matter of corporeal things, without order, without light." He taketh another, who saith, "But the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep,"--that is, "This whole, which is called heaven and earth, was as yet formless and darksome matter, out of which the corporeal heaven and the corporeal earth were to be made, with all things therein which are known to our corporeal senses." He, another, who saith, "But the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep,"--that is, "This whole, which is called heaven and earth, was as yet a formless and darksome matter, out of which were to be made that intelligible heaven, which is otherwise called the heaven of heavens, and the earth, namely, the whole corporeal nature, under which name may also be comprised this corporeal heaven,--that is, from which every invisible and visible creature would be created." He, another, who saith, "But the carth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep,"--"The Scripture called not that formlessness by the name of heaven and earth, but that formlessness itself," saith he, "already was, which he named the earth invisible and formless and the darksome deep, of which he had said before, that God had made the heaven and the earth, namely, the spiritual and corporeal creature." He, another, who saith, "But the earth was invisible and formless, and darkness was upon the deep,"--that is, "There was already a formless matter, whereof the Scripture before said, that God had made heaven and earth, namely, the entire corporeal mass of the world, divided into two very great parts, the superior and the inferior, with all those familiar and known creatures which are in them."