8.  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  If we were to wish to discover the essence of each of the beings which are offered for our contemplation, or come under our senses, we should be drawn away into long digressions, and the solution of the problem would require more words than I possess, to examine fully the matter.  To spend time on such points would not prove to be to the edification of the Church.  Upon the essence of the heavens we are contented with what Isaiah says, for, in simple language, he gives us sufficient idea of their nature, “The heaven was made like smoke,” Isa. li. 6, LXX. that is to say, He created a subtle substance, without solidity or density, from which to form the heavens.  As to the form of them we also content ourselves with the language of the same prophet, when praising God “that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.” Isa. xl. 22, LXX.  In the same way, as concerns the earth, let us resolve not to torment ourselves by trying to find out its essence, not to tire our reason by seeking for the substance which it conceals.  Do not let us seek for any nature devoid of qualities by the conditions of its existence, but let us know that all the phenomena with which we see it clothed regard the conditions of its existence and complete its essence.  Try to take away by reason each of the qualities it possesses, and you will arrive at nothing.  Take away black, cold, weight, density, the qualities which concern taste, in one word all these which we see in it, and the substance vanishes. Fialon points to the coincidence with Arist., Met. vii. 3.  ᾽Αλλὰ μὴν ἀφαιρουμένου μήκους καὶ πλάτους καὶ βάθους, οὐδὲν ὁρῶμεν ὑπολειπόμενον πλὴν ἐ& 176· τι ἐστὶ τὸ ὁριζόμενον ὑπὸ τούτων, ὥστε τὴν ὕλην ἀνάγκη φαὶνεσθαι μόνην οὐσίαν οὕτω σκοπουμένοις.  Λέγω δ᾽ ὕλην ἢ καθ᾽ αὑτὴν μήτε τὶ, μήτε ποσὸν, μήτε ἄλλο μηδὲν λέγεται οἷς ὥρισται τὸ ὄν· ἔστι γὰρ τι καθ᾽ οὗ κατηγορεῖται τούτων ἕκαστον, ᾧ τὸ εἶναι ἕτερον, καὶ τῶν κατηγορεῶν ἑκάστῃ.  Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα τῆς οὐσίας κατηγορεῖται· αὕτη δὲ, τῆς ὕλης.  & 169·Ωστε τὸ ἔσχατον, καθ᾽ αὑτὸ οὔτε τὶ, οὔτε ποσὸν, οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδέν ἐστιν· οὐδὲ δὴ αἰ ἀποφάσεις