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On the
Firmament.
1. We have now
recounted the works of the first day, or rather of one day. Far be it
from me indeed, to take from it the privilege it enjoys of having been
for the Creator a day apart, a day which is not counted in the same
order as the others. Our discussion yesterday treated of the works of
this day, and divided the narrative so as to give you food for your
souls in the morning, and joy in the evening. To-day we pass on to the
wonders of the second day. And here I do not wish to speak of the
narrator's talent, but of the grace of Scripture, for the narrative is
so naturally told that it pleases and delights all the friends of
truth. It is this charm of truth which the Psalmist expresses so
emphatically when he says, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste. yea,
sweeter than honey to my mouth." Yesterday then, as far as we were
able, we delighted our souls by conversing about the oracles of God,
and now to-day we are met together again on the second day to
contemplate the wonders of the second day.
I know that many artisans, belonging to mechanical trades, are crowding
around me. A day's labour hardly suffices to maintain them; therefore I
am compelled to abridge my discourse, so as not to keep them too long
from their work. What shall I say to them? The time which you lend to
God is not lost: he will return it to you with large interest. Whatever
difficulties may trouble you the Lord will disperse them. To those who
have preferred spiritual welfare, He will give health of body, keenness
of mind, success in business, and unbroken prosperity. And, even if in
this life our efforts should not realise our hopes, the teachings of
the Holy Spirit are none the less a rich treasure for the ages to come
Deliver your heart, then, from the cares of this life and give close
heed to my words. Of what avail will it be to you if you are here in
the body, and your heart is anxious about your earthly treasure?
2. And God said "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the waters." Yesterday we heard God's
decree, "Let there be light." To-day it is, "Let there be a firmament."
There appears to be something more in this. The word is not limited to
a simple command. It lays down the reason necessitating the structure
of the firmament: it is, it is said, to separate the waters from the
waters. And first let us ask how God speaks? Is it in our manner? Does
His intelligence receive an impression from objects, and, after having
conceived them, make them known by particular signs appropriate to each
of them? Has He consequently recourse to the organs of voice to convey
His thoughts? Is He obliged to strike the air by the articulate
movements of the voice, to unveil the thought hidden in His heart?
Would it not seem like an idle fable to say that God should need such a
circuitous method to manifest His thoughts? And is it not more
conformable with true religion to say, that the divine will and the
first impetus of divine intelligence are the Word of God? It is He whom
Scripture vaguely represents, to show us that God has not only wished
to create the world, but to create it with the help of a co-operator.
Scripture might continue the history as it is begun: In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth; afterwards He created light, then
He created the firmament. But, by making God command and speak, the
Scripture tacitly shows us Him to Whom this order and these words are
addressed. It is not that it grudges us the knowledge of the truth, but
that it may kindle our desire by showing us some trace and indication
of the mystery. We seize with delight, and carefully keep, the fruit of
laborious efforts, whilst a possession easily attained is despised.
Such is the road and the course which Scripture follows to lead us to
the idea of the Only begotten. And certainly, God's immaterial nature
had no need of the material language of voice, since His very thoughts
could be transmitted to His fellow-worker. What need then of speech,
for those Who by thought alone could communicate their counsels to each
other? Voice was made for hearing, and hearing for voice. Where there
is neither air, nor tongue, nor ear, nor that winding canal which
carries sounds to the seat of sensation in the head, there is no need
for words thoughts of the soul are sufficient to transmit the will. As
I said then, this language is only a wise and ingenious contrivance to
set our minds seeking the Person to whom the words are addressed.
3. In the second place, does the firmament that is called heaven differ
from the firmament that God made in the beginning? Are there two
heavens? The philosophers, who discuss heaven, would rather lose their
tongues than grant this. There is only one heaven, they pretend; and it
is of a nature neither to admit of a second, nor of a third, nor of
several others. The essence of the celestial body quite complete
constitutes its vast unity. Because, they say, every body which has a
circular motion is one and finite. And if this body is used in the
construction of the first heaven, there will be nothing left for the
creation of a second or a third. Here we see what those imagine who put
under the Creator's hand uncreated matter; a lie that follows from the
first fable. But we ask the Greek sages not to mock us before they are
agreed among themselves. Because there are among them some who say
there are infinite heavens and worlds. When grave demonstrations shall
have upset their foolish system, when the laws of geometry shall have
established that, according to the nature of heaven, it is impossible
that there should be two, we shall only laugh the more at this
elaborate scientific trifling. These learned men see not merely one
bubble but several bubbles formed by the same cause, and they doubt the
power of creative wisdom to bring several heavens into being! We find,
however, if we raise our eyes towards the omnipotence of God, that the
strength and grandeur of the heavens differ from the drops of water
bubbling on the surface of a fountain. How ridiculous, then, is their
argument of impossibility! As for myself, far from not believing in a
second, I seek for the third whereon the blessed Paul was found worthy
to gaze. And does not the Psalmist in saying "heaven of heavens" give
us an idea of their plurality? Is the plurality of heaven stranger than
the seven circles through which nearly all the philosophers agree that
the seven planets pass,--circles which they represent to us as placed
in connection with each other like casks fitting the one into the
other? These circles, they say, carried away in a direction contrary to
that of the world, and striking the rather, make sweet and harmonious
sounds, unequalled by the sweetest melody. And if we ask them for the
witness of the senses, what do they say? That we, accustomed to this
noise from our birth, on account of hearing it always, have lost the
sense of it; like then in smithies with their ears incessantly dinned.
If I refuted this ingenious frivolity, the untruth of which is evident
from the first word, it would seem as though I did not know the value
of time. and mistrusted the intelligence of such an audience.
But let me leave the vanity of outsiders to those who are without, and
return to the theme proper to the Church. If we believe some of those
who have preceded us, we have not here the creation of a new heaven,
but a new account of the first. The reason they give is, that the
earlier narrative briefly described the creation of heaven and earth;
while here scripture relates in greater detail the manner in which each
was created. I, however, since Scripture gives to this second heaven
another name and its own function, maintain that it is different from
the heaven which was made at the beginning; that it is of a stronger
nature and of an especial use to the universe.
4. "And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters front the waters. And God made the
firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above the firmament." Before laying hold of the
meaning of Scripture let us try to meet objections from other quarters.
We are asked how, if the firmament is a spherical body, as it appears
to the eye, its convex circumference can contain the water which flows
and circulates in higher regions? What shall we answer? One thing only:
because the interior of a body presents a perfect concavity it does not
necessarily follow that its exterior surface is spherical and smoothly
rounded. Look at the stone vaults of baths, and the structure of
buildings of cave form; the dome, which forms the interior, does not
prevent the roof from having ordinarily a flat surface. Let these
unfortunate men cease, then, from tormenting us and themselves about
the impossibility of our retaining water in the higher regions.
Now we must say something about the nature of the firmament, and why it
received the order to hold the middle place between the waters.
Scripture constantly makes use of the word firmament to express
extraordinary strength. "The Lord in firmament and refuge" "I have
strengthened the pillars of it" "Praise him in the firmament of his
power." The heathen writers thus call a strong body one which is
compact and full, to distinguish it from the mathematical body. A
mathematical body is a body which exists only in the three dimensions,
breadths depth, and height. A firm body, on the contrary, adds
resistance to the dimensions. It is the custom of Scripture to call
firmament all that is strong and unyielding. It even uses the word to
denote the condensation of the air: He, it says, who strengthens the
thunder. Scripture means by the strengthening of the thunder, the
strength and resistance of the wind, which, enclosed in the hollows of
the clouds, produces the noise of thunder when it breaks through with
violence. Here then, according to me, is a firm substance, capable of
retaining the fluid and unstable element water; and as, according to
the common acceptation, it appears that the firmament owes its origin
to water, we must not believe that it resembles frozen water or any
other matter produced by the filtration of water; as, for example, rock
crystal, which is said to owe its metamorphosis to excessive
congelation, or the transparent stone which forms in mines. This
pellucid stone, if one finds it in its natural perfection, without
cracks inside, or the least spot of corruption, almost rivals the air
in clearness. We cannot compare the firmament to one of these
substances. To hold such an opinion about celestial bodies would be
childish and foolish; and although everything may be in everything,
fire in earth, air in water, anti of the other elements the one in the
other; although none of those which come under our senses are pure and
without mixture, either with the element which serves as a medium for
it, or with that which is contrary to it; I, nevertheless, dare not
affirm that the firmament was formed of one of these simple substances,
or of a mixture of them, for I am taught by Scripture not to allow my
imagination to wander too far afield. But do not let us forget to
remark that, after these divine words "let there be a firmament," it is
not said "and the firmament was reader" but, "and God made the
firmament, and divided the waters." Hear, O ye deaf! See, O ye
blind!--who, then, is deaf? He who does not hear this startling voice
of the Holy Spirit. Who is blind? He who does not see such clear proofs
of the Only begotten. "Let there be a firmament." It is the voice of
the primary and principal Cause. "And God made the firmament." Here is
a witness to the active and creative power of God.
5. But let us continue our explanation: "Let it divide the waters froth
the waters." The mass of waters, which from all directions flowed over
the earth, and was suspended in the air, was infinite, so that there
was no proportion between it and the other elements. Thus, as it has
been already said, the abyss covered the earth. We give the reason for
this abundance of water. None of you assuredly will attack our opinion;
not even those who have the most cultivated minds, and whose piercing
eye can penetrate this perishable and fleeting nature; you will not
accuse me of advancing impossible or imaginary theories, nor will you
ask me upon what foundation the fluid clement rests. By the same reason
which makes them attract the earth, heavier than water, from the
extremities of the world to suspend it in the centre, they will grant
us without doubt that it is due both to its natural attraction
downwards and its general equilibrium, that this immense quantity of
water rests motionless upon the earth. Therefore the prodigious mass of
waters was spread around the earth; not in proportion with it and
infinitely larger, thanks to the foresight of the supreme Artificer,
Who, from the beginning, foresaw what was to come, and at the first
provided all for the future needs of the world. But what need was there
for this superabundance of water? The essence of fire is necessary for
the world, not only in the economy of earthly produce, but for the
completion of the universe; for it would be imperfect if the most
powerful and the most vital of its elements were lacking. Now fire and
water are hostile to and destructive of each other. Fire, if it is the
stronger, destroys water, and water, if in greater abundance, destroys
fire. As, therefore, it was necessary to avoid an open struggle between
these elements, so as not to bring about the dissolution of the
universe by the total disappearance of one or the other, the sovereign
Disposer created such a quantity of water that in spite of constant
diminution from the effects of fire, it could last until the time fixed
for the destruction of the world. He who planned all with weight and
measure, He who, according to the word of Job, knows the number of the
drops of rain, knew how long His work would last, and for how much
consumption of fire He ought to allow. This is the reason of the
abundance of water at the creation. Further, there is no one so strange
to life as to need to learn the reason why fire is essential to the
world. Not only all the arts which support life, the art of weaving,
that of shoemaking, of architecture, of agriculture, have need of the
help of fire, but the vegetation of trees, the ripening of fruits, the
breeding of land and water animals, and their nourishment, all existed
from heat from the beginning, and have been since maintained by the
action of heat. The creation of heat was then indispensable for the
formation and the preservation of beings, and the abundance of waters
was no less so in the presence of the constant and inevitable
consumption by fire.
6. Survey creation; you will see the power of heat reigning over all
that is born and perishes. On account of it comes all the water spread
over the earth, as well as that which is beyond our sight and is
dispersed in the depths of the earth. On account of it are abundance of
fountains, springs or wells, courses of rivers, both mountain torrents
and ever flowing streams, for the storing of moisture in many and
various reservoirs. From the East, from the winter solstice flows the
Indus, the greatest river of the earth, according to geographers. From
the middle of the East proceed the Bactrus, the Choaspes, and the
Araxes, from which the Tanais detaches itself to fall into the
Palus-Maeotis. Add to these the Phasis which descends from Mount
Caucasus, and countless other rivers, which, from northern regions,
flow into the Euxine Sea. From the warm countries of the West, from the
foot of the Pyrenees, arise the Tartessus and the Ister, of which the
one discharges itself into the sea beyond the Pillars and the other,
after flowing through Europe, fails into Euxine Sea. Is there any need
to enumerate those which the Ripaean mountains pour forth in the heart
of Scythia, the Rhone, and so many other rivers, all navigable, which
after having watered the countries of the western Gauls and of Celts
and of the neighbouring barbarians, flow into the Western sea? And
others from the higher regions of the South flow through Ethiopia. to
discharge themselves some into our sea, others into inaccessible seas,
the Aegon the Nyses, the Chremetes, and above all the Nile, which is
not of the character of a river when, like a sea, it inundates Egypt.
Thus the habitable part of our earth is surrounded by water, linked
together by vast seas and irrigated by countless perennial rivers,
thanks to the ineffable wisdom of Him Who ordered all to prevent this
rival clement to fire from being entirely destroyed.
However, a time will come, when all shall be consumed by fire; as
Isaiah says of the God of the universe in these words, "That saith to
the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers." Reject then the
foolish wisdom of this world, and receive with me the more simple but
infallible doctrine of truth.
7. Therefore we read: "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the
waters, and let it divide life waters front the waters." have said what
the word firmament in Scripture means. It is not in reality a firm and
solid substance which has weight and resistance; this name would
otherwise have better suited the earth. But, as the substance of
superincumbent bodies is light, without consistency, and cannot be
grasped by any one of our senses, it is in comparison with these pure
and imperceptible substances that the firmament has received its name.
Imagine a place fit to divide the moisture, sending it, if pure and
filtered, into higher regions, and making it fall, if it is dense and
earthy; to the end that by the gradual withdrawal of the moist
particles the same temperature may be preserved from the beginning to
the end. You do not believe in this prodigious quantity of water; but
you do not take into account the prodigious quantity of heat, less
considerable no doubt in bulk, but exceedingly powerful nevertheless,
if you consider it as destructive of moisture. It attracts surrounding
moisture, as the melon shows us, and consumes it as quickly when
attracted, as the flame of the lamp draws to it the fuel supplied by
the wick and burns it up. Who doubts that the rather is an ardent fire?
If an impassable limit had not been assigned to it by the Creator, what
would prevent it from setting on fire and consuming all that is near
it, and absorbing sit the moisture from existing things? The aerial
waters which veil the heavens with vapours that are sent forth by
rivers, fountains, marshes, lakes, and seas, prevent the aether from
invading and burning up the universe. Thus we see even this sun, in the
summer season, dry up in a moment a damp and marshy country, and make
it perfectly arid. What has become of all the water? Let these masters
of omniscience tell us. Is it not plain to every one that it has risen
in vapour, and has been consumed by the heat of the sun? They say, none
the less, that even the sun is without heat. What time they lose in
words! And see what proof they Jean upon to resist what is perfectly
plain. Its colour is white, and neither reddish nor yellow. It is not
then fiery by nature, and its heat results, they say, from the velocity
of its rotation. What do they gain? That the sun does not seem to
absorb moisture? I do not, however, reject this statement, although it
is false, because it helps my argument. I said that the consumption of
heat required this prodigious quantity of water. That the sun owes its
heat to its nature, or that heat results from its action, makes no
difference, provided that it produces the same effects upon the same
matter. If you kindle fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, or
if you light them by holding them to a flame, you will have absolutely
the same effect. Besides, we see that the great wisdom of Him who
governs all, makes the sun travel from one region to another, for fear
that, if it remained always in the same place, its excessive heat would
destroy the order of the universe. Now it passes into southern regions
about the time of the winter solstice, now it returns to the sign of
the equinox; from thence it betakes itself to northern regions during
the summer solstice, and keeps up by this imperceptible passage a
pleasant temperature throughout all the world.
Let the learned people see if they do not disagree among themselves.
The water which the sun consumes is, they say, what prevents the sea
from rising and flooding the rivers; the warmth of the sun leaves
behind the salts and the bitterness of the waters, and absorbs from
them the pure and drinkable particles, thanks to the singular virtue of
this planet in attracting all that is light and in allowing to fall,
like mud and sediment, all which is thick and earthy. From thence come
the bitterness, the salt taste and the power of withering and drying up
which are characteristic of the sea. While as is notorious, they hold
these views, they shift their ground and say that moisture cannot be
lessened by the sun.
8. "And God called the firmament heaven." The nature of right belongs
to another, and the firmament only shares it on account of its
resemblance to heaven. We often find the visible region called heaven,
on account of the density and continuity of the air within our ken, and
deriving its name "heaven" from the word which means to see. It is of
it that Scripture says, "The fowl of the air," "Fowl that may fly . . .
in the open firmament of heave;" and, elsewhere, "They mount up to
heaven." Moses, blessing the tribe of Joseph, desires for it the fruits
and the dews of heaven, of the suns of summer and the conjunctions of
the moon, and blessings from the tops of the mountains and from the
everlasting hills," in one word, from all which fertilises the earth.
In the curses on Israel it is said, "And thy heaven that is over thy
head shall be brass." What does this mean? It threatens him with a
complete drought, with an absence of the aerial waters which cause the
fruits of the earth to be brought forth and to grow.
Since, then, Scripture says that the dew or the rain fails from heaven,
we understand that it is from those waters which have been ordered to
occupy the higher regions. When the exhalations from the earth,
gathered together in the heights of the air, are condensed under the
pressure of the wind, this aerial moisture diffuses itself in vaporous
and light clouds; then mingling again, it forms drops which fall,
dragged down by their own weight; and this is the origin of rain. When
water beaten by the violence of the wind, changes into foam, and
passing through excessive cold quite freezes, it breaks the cloud, and
falls as snow. Yon can thus account for all the moist substances that
the air suspends over our heads.
And do not let any one compare with the inquisitive discussions of
philosophers upon the heavens, the simple and inartificial character of
the utterances of the Spirit; as the beauty of chaste women surpasses
that of a harlot, so our arguments are superior to those of our
opponents. They only seek to persuade by forced reasoning. With us
truth presents itself naked anti without artifice. But why torment
ourselves to refute the errors of philosophers, when it is sufficient
to produce their mutually contradictory books, and, as quiet
spectators, to watch the war? For those thinkers are not less numerous,
nor less celebrated, nor more sober in speech in fighting their
adversaries, who say that the universe is being consumed by fire, and
that from the seeds which remain in the ashes of the burnt world all is
being brought to life again. Hence in the world there is destruction
and palingenesis to infinity. All, equally far from the truth, find
each on their side by-ways which lead them to error.
9. But as far as concerns the separation of the waters I am obliged to
contest the opinion of certain writers in the Church who, under the
shadow of high and sublime conceptions, have launched out into
metaphor, and have only seen in the waters a figure to denote spiritual
and incorporeal powers. In the higher regions, above the firmament,
dwell the better; in the lower regions, earth and matter are the
dwelling place of the malignant. So, say they, God is praised by the
waters that are above the heaven, that is to say, by the good powers,
the purity of whose soul makes them worthy to sing the praises of God.
And the waters which are under the heaven represent the wicked spirits,
who from their natural height have fallen into the abyss of evil.
Turbulent, seditious, agitated by the tumultuous waves of passion, they
have received the name of sea, because of the instability and the
inconstancy of their movements. Let us reject these theories as dreams
and old women's tales. Let us understand that by water water is meant;
for the dividing of the waters by the firmament let us accept the
reason which has been given us. Although, however, waters above the
heaven are invited to give glory to the Lord of the Universe, do not
let us think of them as intelligent beings; the heavens are not alive
because they "declare the glory of God," nor the firmament a sensible
being because it "sheweth His handiwork." And if they tell you that the
heavens mean contemplative powers, anti the firmament active powers
which produce good, we admire the theory as ingenious without being
able to acknowledge the truth of it. For thus dew, the frost, cold and
heat, which in Daniel are ordered to praise the Creator of all things,
will be intelligent and invisible natures. But this is only a figure,
accepted as such by enlightened minds, to complete the glory of the
Creator. Besides, the waters above the heavens, these waters privileged
by the virtue which they possess in themselves, are not the only waters
to celebrate the praises of God. "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye
dragons and all deeps." s Thus the singer of the Psalms does not reject
the deeps which our inventors of allegories rank in the divisions of
evil; he admits them to the universal choir of creation, and the deeps
sing in their language a harmonious hymn to the glory of the Creator.
10. "And God saw that it was good." God does not judge of the beauty of
His work by the charm of the eyes, and He does not form the same idea
of beauty that we do. What He esteems beautiful is that which presents
in its perfection all the fitness of art, and that which tends to the
usefulness of its end. He, then, who proposed to Himself a manifest
design in His works, approved each one of them, as fulfilling its end
in accordance with His creative purpose. A hand, an eye, or any portion
of a statue lying apart from the rest, would look beautiful to no one.
But if each be restored to its own place, the beauty of proportion,
until now almost unperceived, would strike even the most uncultivated.
But the artist, before uniting the parts of his work, distinguishes and
recognises the beauty of each of them, thinking of the object that he
has in view. It is thus that Scripture depicts to us the Supreme
Artist, praising each one of His works; soon. when His work is
complete, He will accord well deserved praise to the whole together.
Let me here end my discourse on the second day, to allow my industrious
hearers to examine what they have just heard. May their memory retain
it for the profit of their soul; may they by careful meditation
inwardly digest and benefit by what I say. As for those who live by
their work, let me allow them to attend all day to their business, so
that they may come, with a soul free from anxiety, to the banquet of my
discourse in the evening. May God who, after having made such great
things, put such weak words in my mouth, grant you the intelligence of
His truth, so that you may raise yourselves from visible things to the
invisible Being, and that the grandeur and beauty of creatures may give
you a just idea of the Creator. For the visible things of Him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, and His power and divinity are
eternal. Thus earth, air, sky, water, day, night, all visible things,
remind us of who is our Benefactor. We shall not therefore give
occasion to sin, we shall not give place to the enemy within us, if by
unbroken recollection we keep God ever dwelling in our hearts, to Whom
be all glory and all adoration, now and for ever, world without end.
Amen.
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