On the Words of Scripture: 'There was evening and there was morning, one day'

Contents

1. 1The author introduces a friend's question whether the whole world has the same hour, the friend claiming from Genesis that day and night cover the whole world at once, and asks him to hear the true reading of Moses.
2. 2The author argues that darkness, being created by God, is a substance, and that the light of the first day illuminated only half the world, the other half remaining in darkness, so that day and night move around the earth.
3. 3The author argues that God's separating light from darkness and calling the light “day” means a span of twelve hours that moves around the world, and appeals to Ecclesiastes 1:9 that things were then as they are now.
4. 4The author argues that the morning mentioned after each evening belongs to the next day, so that God's works were done by day, and tests this against the creation of the firmament, the dry land and the lights.
5. 5The author argues that the sun and moon, made on the fourth day, circle the earth without ceasing, as Ecclesiastes 1:5–6 says, so that the day passes from place to place and each morning begins a new day.
6. 6The author argues that light covers only half the globe, so that morning and evening pass round the earth, and that since light was made and named day before night, the day begins with morning, not evening.
7. 7The author argues from the creation of man and the seventh day of rest that each day began with morning, the morning after the sixth evening being the seventh day, since no seventh evening is mentioned.