ect of these three Scripture mentions three kinds of
formlessness. Heaven, the highest of them, was without form so long
as "darkness" filled it, because it was the source of light. The
formlessness of water, which holds the middle place, is called the
"deep," because, as Augustine says (Contr. Faust. xxii, 11), this
word signifies the mass of waters without order. Thirdly, the
formless state of the earth is touched upon when the earth is said to
be "void" or "invisible," because it was covered by the waters. Thus,
then, the formation of the highest body took place on the first day.
And since time results from the movement of the heaven, and is the
numerical measure of the movement of the highest body, from this
formation, resulted the distinction of time, namely, that of night
and day. On the second day the intermediate body, water, was formed,
receiving from the firmament a sort of distinction and order (so that
water be understood as including certain other things, as explained
above (Q. 68, A. 3)). On the third day the earth, the lowest body,
received its form by the withdrawal of the waters, and there resulted
the distinction in the lowest body, namely, of land and sea. Hence
Scripture, having clearly expressed the formless state of the earth,
by saying that it was "invisible" or "void," expresses the manner in
which it received its form by the equally suitable words, "Let the
dry land appear."

Reply Obj. 1: According to Augustine [*Gen. ad lit. ii, 7, 8; iii,
20], Scripture does not say of the work of the third day, that it was
made, as it says of those that precede, in order to show that higher
and spiritual forms, such as the angels and the heavenly bodies, are
perfect and stable in being, whereas inferior forms are imperfect and
mutable. Hence the impression of such forms is signified by the
gathering of the waters, and the appearing of the land. For "water,"
to use Augustine's words, "glides and flows away, the earth abides"
(Gen. ad lit. ii, 11). Others, again, hold that the work of the third
day was perfected on that day only as regards movement from place to
place, and that for this reason Scripture had no reason to speak of
it as made.

Reply Obj. 2: This argument is easily solved, according to
Augustine's opinion (De Gen. Contr. Manich. i), because we need not
suppose that the earth was first covered by the waters, and that
these were afterwards gathered together, but that they were produced
in this v