Chapter III.
The firmament is not the same as the sky: it is falsely denied that true waters reside above it, and this is shown by Scripture, examples, and multiple reasons; those who deny that heat is inherent in the sun are refuted.
Our purpose, therefore, is because God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' And from this, it is discussed whether this firmament is called what was already made, as it is written: 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' It is not overlooked that some before us have understood it this way, because the Scripture expresses the heaven, which was created and formed by God, as the work and creation, while here the exposition of the work is spread out, and the quality of the operation is set forth by the very nature of the things that come together. But it moves us, because another name is signified, and a more solid appearance, and a cause is discerned, and the person of the one cooperating is added. For thus it is written: And God separated between the waters that were under the firmament, and the waters that were above the firmament (Gen. I, 7).
9. And first, they want to destroy that which is unusual and impressed upon our minds by frequent reading of the Scriptures, namely, that water cannot be above the heavens, saying that the round orb of the heavens, with the earth in the middle, would not allow water to remain in it and stay still, as it is necessary to flow and fall downward from higher to lower places. For how can water, as they say, remain above the orb, when the orb itself is rotating? This is that subtlety of dialectic. Give me a place where I can respond to you. But if it is not given, no word is returned. They ask for the concession that the axis of the heavens can be twisted by rapid motion, but the earth itself is immovable; so they argue that it is not possible for the waters to be above the heavens, because by rotating all of them the axis would spill them out. As if I were to indeed grant them what they request, and according to their opinions I were to respond to them, they could deny that in that altitude and depth there is both length and width, which no one can comprehend except the one who is filled with the fullness of God, as the Apostle says (Ephesians 3:18-19). For who can easily be an evaluator of divine work? Therefore, there is expansiveness in the very height of the sky. There are also, as we will speak about things we can know, many buildings that are round on the outside and square on the inside, and square on the outside and round on the inside, in which the upper parts are flat, in which water tends to stagnate. However, we say these things in order to point out that their opinions can be constrained by more plausible opinions, and that they should stop measuring the work of God solely by contemplation of human operation and our own capacity.
10. However, we follow the series and order of the Scriptures, and we value the work through contemplation of the author, and we seek what has been said, and who said it, and to whom it was said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.' I hear that the firmament was created by a command by which the water was divided, and the lower waters were separated from the higher. What could be clearer? He who commanded the water to be divided by inserting the firmament in the middle provided a way for it to remain divided and separate. The power of God is the nature's virtue, and the substance of eternity as long as He wishes it to remain, as it is written: He has established it forever and ever, He has given a command, and it will not pass away (Psalm 148:6). And so you may know, that about these waters He has said this, which you deny can be in the higher heavens, listen to what is written above: Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters that are above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord (Psalm 148:4, 5). Has he not spoken to you as if he were opposing: Because he spoke and they were made; he commanded and they were created: he established them forever and ever, he set a law and it shall not pass away (ibid. 5). Does not the author seem to be suitable to you, who would give his law to his work? It is God who speaks, venerable by nature, in immeasurable greatness, immense in rewards, incomprehensible in works, whose height of wisdom can be investigated by someone easily? He speaks to the Son, that is, he speaks to his arm, he speaks to his power, he speaks to his wisdom, he speaks to his justice. And the Son acts as if powerful, acts as if the power of God, acts as if the wisdom of God, acts as if the divine justice. When you hear these things, why are you amazed if by the operation of such great majesty the wave could be suspended above the firmament of the sky?
11. From others derive this: from those things which the eyes of men have seen, consider how the water divided itself for the passage of the Jews, if you seek reason. This is not the usual nature, that water should separate itself from water, and that in the depths the mixtures of waters should be divided by the middle of the earth. For the waves froze, and in the appearance of the sky they curbed their course with an unusual end. Wasn't it possible for the Hebrew people to be liberated in another way as well? But he wanted to show you, in order that also by that spectacle you might estimate that those things which you did not see are to be believed. Jordan also, with its river winding back, returns to its source. It is considered impossible for water to stand still as it flows; to return again to its upper reaches without any barrier is also considered impossible. But what is impossible for someone who has given the power to the weak to say: 'I can do all things in him who strengthens me' (Philippians 4:13). Let them explain how the air is gathered into a cloud, whether rain is generated from the clouds, or whether it is collected in the bosom of the clouds. We often see clouds coming forth from the mountains. I wonder whether the water rises from the earth or descends from what is above the heavens in copious rainfall. If it rises, it is certainly against nature for it to ascend to higher regions which are heavier and be carried by air, since air is more subtle. Or if water is carried by the movement of the whole rotating sphere, just as it is carried by the lowest sphere, it is also dispersed by the highest sphere. If it is poured out as they claim, it certainly does not cease to be carried away: for if the axis of the sky is always moving, then water is always being drawn up. If it descends; therefore it always remains above the heavens from where it descends. Then what is the obstacle if they confess that water was suspended above the heavens? For by what word do they say that the earth is suspended in the middle and remains immobile, since it is undoubtedly heavier than water; by this reasoning they can say that the water does not fall precipitously by the rotation of that heavenly sphere which is above the heavens. For just as the earth is suspended by empty space, or remains immobile with weight balanced on all sides; so too is water either weighed down by heavier or equal weights to the earth. And so the sea does not easily overflow the land, unless it is commanded to depart.
12. Then when they say that the celestial sphere, shining with burning stars, revolves on its own, didn't divine providence necessarily foresee that water would flow within and overflow beyond the celestial sphere to temper the fiery heat of the axis? Therefore, because fire overflows and burns, water also overflowed on the Earth so that the rising heat from the sun and the shining of the stars would not consume it, and so that the tender beginnings of things would not be harmed by the unusual vapor. How many springs, rivers, and lakes irrigate the lands, because a certain internal fire vaporizes them? For from where would trees sprout, or crops burst forth, or newly grown crops be cooked; unless that internal fire also animates them? It is also frequently expelled from rocks, and often leaps out from the wood itself while being cut. Therefore, just as fire is a necessary creature, so that it may remain orderly and organized, and the kindness of the heavens tempers the severity of the waters; so too the excess of waters is not superfluous, as one would consume the other, because unless there is a suitable measure of both, just as fire dries out water, so too water extinguishes fire. And so He examined all things with weight and measure; for the rainfall has been counted for Him, as we read in the Book of Job. Knowing that either an easy lack of things or a resolution of the universe would occur if one were exceeded by the other, He tempered the expenses of both so that neither fire would consume too much nor water would overflow, but the decrease of both would be moderate, which would both remove the excess and preserve the necessary. Therefore, when such great flows of rivers burst forth from the lands, the Nile, stagnating Egypt with its overflowing river, the Danube, cutting across the lands of barbarians and Romans until it reaches the Black Sea, the Rhine, directing its course from the Alps to the depths of the Ocean, a remarkable wall of the Roman Empire against wild peoples, the Po faithful in bringing maritime supplies to Italy, the Rhone, flowing rapidly and splitting the straits of the Tyrrhenian Sea, where there is said to be no small danger for sailors as the waves of the sea and the currents of the river contend with each other, and likewise the Phasis, flowing from the Caucasus mountains in the northern part and rushing into the Black Sea with several others, it is extensive to enumerate the names of each of these rivers that either flow into our sea or discharge into the Ocean; therefore, even though there is such abundance of water, the land of the southern region is often parched by heat and exhausted by the heat, and the miserable farmers, having expended their labor, frequently lack vital relief in the form of drinking water, as the wells dry up and the stream runs dry. And there will indeed come a time when he will say to the abyss: you will be deserted, and I will dry up all the rivers, as he foretold through Isaiah (Isaiah 44:27). But even before that day comes, by divine decree, the nature of the elements themselves frequently determines the world to be shaken either by floods or by excessive heat and drought.
13. Therefore, do not imagine an incredible number of waters, but consider the power of heat, and you will not be incredulous. Fire absorbs a great deal: this should be evident to us from the fact that doctors attach certain vessels to the body, which are narrow at the mouth, wider at the top, concave inside, and shine with the gentle light of a lamp, so that this heat may draw all moisture into itself. Therefore, who would doubt that the fiery ether, burning with great heat and vapor, would ignite and consume everything, unless it were restrained by a certain law of its creator, so that neither rivers, nor lakes, nor the very seas could extinguish its power? And therefore, descending from above with a certain force, it is often disrupted into such heavy rainfalls that rivers and lakes are suddenly filled, and even the seas overflow. Hence, we frequently see the sun wet and dripping. In this, it provides clear evidence that it has taken water as nourishment for its temperature.
However, they have such a strong desire to attack the truth that they deny that the sun itself is of warm nature; because it is white, not red, or ruddy in the appearance of fire. And therefore they say that it is not of fiery nature, and if it has any heat, they claim that it occurs from excessive motion of transformation. They think that this should be said so that it does not seem to consume moisture: because the heat by which moisture is either diminished or often exhausted, does not have a natural quality. But they accomplish nothing when they construct such things; for it makes no difference whether one has heat from natural causes or from some accident or other, since every fire consumes a supply of moisture or something of that sort, such as flames are accustomed to devour. For whether one collects fire from wood not at all charred, but simply pounded together, and takes the flame up in leaves, the flame still burns, just as though you were lighting a torch from a fire; or whether you light a lamp from the flame of another lamp, the kind and nature of the light are the same as though the light had originated, not from a natural fire, but as the result of an accident. Hence, at least from here they contemplate the heat of the sun, by which God has established different places and times for its course; so that if it always stayed in the same places, it would be consumed by daily vapor. They say that the sea itself has salty and bitter water because the water that flows into the sea from the rivers is evaporated by the heat, and only as much vapor is consumed daily as is brought in from the various courses of the rivers. This is said to happen through a certain judgment of the sun, which takes for itself what is pure and light, and leaves behind what is heavy and earthly: from which remains that salty and dry thing, which is unpleasant and tasteless for drinking.