ang to the very ether
and heaven. In an instant it lighted up the whole extent of the world,
the north and the south, the east and the west. For the ether also is
such a subtle substance and so transparent that it needs not the space
of a moment for light to pass through it. Just as it carries our sight
instantaneously to the object of vision, so without the least interval,
with a rapidity that thought can not conceive, it receives these rays of
light in its uttermost limits. With light the ether becomes more
pleasing and the waters more limpid. These last, not content with
receiving its splendor, return it by the reflection of light and in all
directions send forth quivering flashes. The divine word gives every
object a more cheerful and a more attractive appearance, just as when
men pour in oil into the deep sea they make the place about them smooth.
So, with a single word and in one instant the Creator of all things gave
the boon of light to the world.

"Let there be light." The order was itself an operation, and a state of
things was brought into being than which man's mind can not even imagine
a pleasanter one for our enjoyment It must be well understood that when
we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God, this divine
language does not mean to us a sound which escapes from the organs of
speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue; it is a simple sign of
the will of God, and, if we give it the form of an order, it is only the
better to impress the souls whom we instruct.

"And God saw the light, that it was good." How can we worthily praise
light after the testimony given by the Creator to its goodness? The
word, even among us, refers the judgment to the eyes, incapable of
raising itself to the idea that the senses have already received. But if
beauty in bodies results from symmetry of parts and the harmonious
appearance of colors how, in a simple and homogeneous essence like
light, can this idea of beauty be preserved? Would not the symmetry in
light be less shown in its parts than in the pleasure and delight at the
sight of it? Such is also the beauty of gold, which it owes, not to the
happy mingling of its parts, but only to its beautiful color, which has
a charm attractive to the eyes.

Thus, again, the evening star is the most beautiful of the stars: not
that the parts of which it is composed form a harmonious whole, but
thanks to the unalloyed and beautiful brightness which meets our eyes