words of the Sacred Scriptures: "The devil stood not in the truth;" [1] on which subject St. Augustine says, "In creating the angels he endowed them with good will, that is, with pure love, by which they adhere to him, at once giving them existence, and adorning them with grace." [2] Hence we are to believe that the an gels were never without " good will," that is, the love of God. As to their knowledge we have this testimony of Holy Scripture: " Thou, Lord, my King, art wise according to the wisdom of an Angel of God, to understand all things upon earth." [3] Finally, David ascribes power to them in these words; " mighty in strength, executing his word;" [4] and on this account, they are often called in Scripture the " powers" and " the hosts of heaven." But although they were all endowed with celestial gifts, very many, however, having rebelled against God, their Father and Creator, were hurled from the mansions of bliss, and shut up in the dark dungeons of hell, there to suffer for eternity the punishment of their pride. Speaking of them the Prince of the Apostles says: " He spare-d not the angels that sinned; but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes, to the lower hell, into torments, to be reserved unto judgment." [5]
The earth, also, God commanded to stand in the midst of the world, rooted in its own foundation, and " made the mountains to ascend, and the plains to descend into the place which he had founded for them." That the waters should not inundate the earth, " he hath set a bound which they shall not pass over, neither shall they return to cover the earth." [6] He next not only clothed and adorned it with trees, and every variety of herb and flower, but filled it, as he had already filled the air and water, with innumerable sorts of living creatures.
Lastly, he formed man from the slime of the earth, immortal and impassable, not, however, by the strength of nature, but by the bounty of God. His soul he created to his own image and likeness; gifted him with free will, and tempered all his motions and appetites, so as to subject them, at all times, to the dictate of reason. He then added the invaluable gift of original righteousness, and next gave him dominion over all other animals By referring to the sacred history of Genesis the pastor will make him self familiar with these things for the instruction of the faithful.
What we have said, then, of the creation of the universe, is to be understood as conveyed by the words "heaven and earth," and is thus briefly set forth by the prophet: " Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:" [7] and still more briefly by the Fathers of the Council of Nice, who added in their Creed these words, "of all things visible and invisible." Whatever exists in the universe, and was created by God, either falls under the senses, and is included in the word " visible," or is an object of perception to the mind, and is expressed by the word " invisible."
