act of speaking, as if he had created the mass of heaven and earth without a word. Yet John testifies that “without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). It is certain that the world had been begun by the same efficacy of the word by which it was completed. God, however, did not put forth his word until he proceeded to originate light; in the act of distinguishing between light and darkness, his wisdom begins to be conspicuous. “Let there be light.” It was proper that the light, by