st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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Of
SERMONS. 123
terms and forms of words blending promiscuously
with the later vintage of philosophy and the Church
still, even under this truly Byzantine exterior, it is
impossible not to admire the power and flexibility of
the Greek tongue.
Himself," he thus begins,
God made out of what existed not both the angels,
and the heaven, and the earth, and all that therein is.
He made the empyrean, and the watery abyss the
;
atmosphere to be a storehouse for the winds, and
the transparent vehicle of light.
He made a second
revolving canopy, the firmament resting on water, to
divide the waters above from the waters beneath,
even that which He called heaven. He made the
blazing sun, the bringer of day and night in its two
fold chariot-course, the beacon-fire of the universe
with its flashing rays ;
the moon also, that illumines
the night, and tempers the ardent beams of the sun ;
those stars, moreover, that adorn the firmament. He
made all things upon the earth flowers of
;
every kind
and of varied uses, the herb bearing seed, and the
fruitful trees, earth s fairest ornament He made the
living creatures of all kinds that swim in the waters,
the great and prodigious whales, as well as the mani
fold species of reptiles, and winged birds, that have
their food on
their birth in water, their flight in air,
land. Yet again, He made living creatures out of
the earth, both the untamed wild beasts and the
herds of domestic animals : all alike to be an evi
dence of His own mighty working, and a feast for
man to enjoy, who was to be made in the image of
God
(c. v.).
Then follows the story of the Tempta
tion. The tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil may