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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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