Augustine of Hippo
Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“Therefore the Prophet says unto these great and small, the mountains and the little hills, the rams and the young sheep, what follows: "You are the blessed of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" [Psalm 115:15]. As if he should say, You are the blessed of the Lord, who made the heaven in the great, earth in the small: not this visible heaven, studded with luminaries which are objects to these eyes. For "The heaven of heavens is the Lord's" [Psalm 115:16]; who has elevated the minds of some saints to such a height, that they became teachable by no man, but by God Himself; in comparison of which heaven, whatever is discerned with carnal eyes is to be called earth; which "He has given to the children of men;" that when it is contemplated, whether in that region which illumines above, as that which is called heaven, or in that which is illumined beneath, which is properly called earth (since in comparison with that which is called heaven of heaven, the whole, as we have said, is earth;) the whole therefore of this earth He has given to the children of men, that by the consideration of it, as far as they can, they may conceive of the Creator, whom with their yet weak hearts they cannot see without that aid to their conception.”