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Then, we must not pass from this passage of Scripture without
noticing that when God said, "Let there be light, and there was
light," it was immediately added, "And God saw the light that it
was good." No such expression followed the statement that He
separated the light from the darkness, and called the light Day and
the darkness Night, lest the seal of His approval might seem to be
set on such darkness, as well as on the light. For when the darkness
was not subject of disapprobation, as when it was divided by the
heavenly bodies from this light which our eyes discern, the statement
that God saw that it was good is inserted, not before, but after the
division is recorded. "And God set them," so runs the passage,
"in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to
rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good." For He approved of both,
because both were sinless. But where God said, "Let there be
light, and there was light; and God saw the light that it was
good;" and the narrative goes on, "and God divided the light from
the darkness! and God called the light Day, and the darkness He
called Night," there was not in this place subjoined the statement,
"And God saw that it was good," lest both should be designated
good, while one of them was evil, not by nature, but by its own
fault. And therefore, in this ease, the light alone received the
approbation of the Creator, while the angelic darkness, though it had
been ordained, was yet not approved.
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