this, not subsisting directly by itself, but resulting from some
external causes. If it is said that it rested upon the deep, it is
because the extremity of air naturally touches the surface of bodies;
and as at that time the water covered everything, we are obliged to say
that darkness was upon the face of the deep.

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters?" Does this
Spirit mean the diffusion of air? The sacred writer wishes to enumerate
to you the elements of the world, to tell you that God created the
heavens, the earth, water and air, and that the last was now diffused
and in motion; or rather, that which is truer and confirmed by the
authority of the ancients, by the Spirit of God he means the Holy
Spirit. It is, as has been remarked, the special name, the name above
all others that Scripture delights to give to the Holy Spirit, and by
the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit is meant, the Spirit, namely, which
completes the divine and blessed Trinity. You will always find it
better, therefore, to take it in this sense. How, then, did the Spirit
of God move upon the waters? The explanation that I am about to give you
is not an original one, but that of a Syrian who was as ignorant in the
wisdom of this world as he was versed in the knowledge of the truth.

He said, then, that the Syriac word was more expressive, and that, being
more analogous to the Hebrew term, it was a nearer approach to the
Scriptural sense. This is the meaning of the word: by "moved" the
Syrians, he says, understand brooded over. The Spirit cherished the
nature of the waters as one sees a bird cover the eggs with her body and
impart to them vital force from her own warmth. Such is, as nearly as
possible, the meaning of these words--the Spirit moved: that is,
prepared the nature of water to produce living beings: a sufficient
proof for those who ask if the Holy Spirit took an active part in the