Whether There Are Waters Above the Firmament?
Objection 1: It would seem that there are not waters above the
firmament. For water is heavy by nature, and heavy things tend
naturally downwards, not upwards. Therefore there are not waters
above the firmament.
Obj. 2: Further, water is fluid by nature, and fluids cannot rest
on a sphere, as experience shows. Therefore, since the firmament is a
sphere, there cannot be water above it.
Obj. 3: Further, water is an element, and appointed to the
generation of composite bodies, according to the relation in which
imperfect things stand towards perfect. But bodies of composite nature
have their place upon the earth, and not above the firmament, so that
water would be useless there. But none of God's works are useless.
Therefore there are not waters above the firmament.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gen. 1:7): "(God) divided the
waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the
firmament."
I answer with Augustine (Gen. ad lit. ii, 5) that, "These words of
Scripture have more authority than the most exalted human intellect.
Hence, whatever these waters are, and whatever their mode of
existence, we cannot for a moment doubt that they are there." As to
the nature of these waters, all are not agreed. Origen says (Hom. i in
Gen.) that the waters that are above the firmament are "spiritual
substances." Wherefore it is written (Ps. 148:4): "Let the waters that
are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord," and (Dan. 3:60):
"Ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord."To this Basil
answers (Hom. iii in Hexaem.) that these words do not mean that these
waters are rational creatures, but that "the thoughtful contemplation
of them by those who understand fulfils the glory of the Creator."
Hence in the same context, fire, hail, and other like creatures, are
invoked in the same way, though no one would attribute reason to
these.
We must hold, then, these waters to be material, but their exact
nature will be differently defined according as opinions on the
firmament differ. For if by the firmament we understand the starry
heaven, and as being of the nature of the four elements, for the same
reason it may be believed that the waters above the heaven are of the
same nature as the elemental waters. But if by the firmament we
understand the starry heaven, not, however, as being of the nature of
the four elements, then the waters above the firmament will not be of
the same nature as the elemental waters, but just as, according to
Strabus, one heaven is called empyrean, that is, fiery, solely on
account of its splendor: so this other heaven will be called aqueous
solely on account of its transparence; and this heaven is above the
starry heaven. Again, if the firmament is held to be of other nature
than the elements, it may still be said to divide the waters, if we
understand by water not the element but formless matter. Augustine,
in fact, says (Super Gen. cont. Manich. i, 5,7) that whatever divides
bodies from bodies can be said to divide waters from waters.
If, however, we understand by the firmament that part of the air in
which the clouds are collected, then the waters above the firmament
must rather be the vapors resolved from the waters which are raised
above a part of the atmosphere, and from which the rain falls. But to
say, as some writers alluded to by Augustine (Gen. ad lit. ii, 4),
that waters resolved into vapor may be lifted above the starry
heaven, is a mere absurdity. The solid nature of the firmament, the
intervening region of fire, wherein all vapor must be consumed, the
tendency in light and rarefied bodies to drift to one spot beneath the
vault of the moon, as well as the fact that vapors are perceived not
to rise even to the tops of the higher mountains, all to go to show
the impossibility of this. Nor is it less absurd to say, in support of
this opinion, that bodies may be rarefied infinitely, since natural
bodies cannot be infinitely rarefied or divided, but up to a certain
point only.
Reply Obj. 1: Some have attempted to solve this difficulty by
supposing that in spite of the natural gravity of water, it is kept in
its place above the firmament by the Divine power. Augustine (Gen. ad
lit. ii, 1), however will not admit this solution, but says "It is our
business here to inquire how God has constituted the natures of His
creatures, not how far it may have pleased Him to work on them by way
of miracle." We leave this view, then, and answer that according to
the last two opinions on the firmament and the waters the solution
appears from what has been said. According to the first opinion, an
order of the elements must be supposed different from that given by
Aristotle, that is to say, that the waters surrounding the earth are
of a dense consistency, and those around the firmament of a rarer
consistency, in proportion to the respective density of the earth
and of the heaven.
Or by the water, as stated, we may understand the matter of bodies to
be signified.
Reply Obj. 2: The solution is clear from what has been said,
according to the last two opinions. But according to the first
opinion, Basil gives two replies (Hom. iii in Hexaem.). He answers
first, that a body seen as concave beneath need not necessarily be
rounded, or convex, above. Secondly, that the waters above the
firmament are not fluid, but exist outside it in a solid state, as a
mass of ice, and that this is the crystalline heaven of some writers.
Reply Obj. 3: According to the third opinion given, the waters above
the firmament have been raised in the form of vapors, and serve to
give rain to the earth. But according to the second opinion, they
are above the heaven that is wholly transparent and starless. This,
according to some, is the primary mobile, the cause of the daily
revolution of the entire heaven, whereby the continuance of
generation is secured. In the same way the starry heaven, by the
zodiacal movement, is the cause whereby different bodies are
generated or corrupted, through the rising and setting of the stars,
and their various influences. But according to the first opinion
these waters are set there to temper the heat of the celestial
bodies, as Basil supposes (Hom. iii in Hexaem.). And Augustine says
(Gen. ad lit. ii, 5) that some have considered this to be proved by
the extreme cold of Saturn owing to its nearness to the waters that
are above the firmament.
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