ht found, in the
Scriptures recognized by them as sacred, the basis for a new view, or
rather for a modification of the old view.

This ending of a scientific evolution based upon observation and
reason, and this beginning of a sacred science based upon the letter of
Scripture and on theology, are seen in the utterances of various fathers
in the early Church. As to the general features of this new development,
Tertullian held that sundry passages of Scripture prove lightning
identical with hell-fire; and this idea was transmitted from generation
to generation of later churchmen, who found an especial support
of Tertullian's view in the sulphurous smell experienced during
thunderstorms. St. Hilary thought the firmament very much lower than the
heavens, and that it was created not only for the support of the upper
waters, but also for the tempering of our atmosphere.(199) St. Ambrose
held that thunder is caused by the winds breaking through the solid
firmament, and cited from the prophet Amos the sublime passage regarding
"Him that establisheth the thunders."(200) He shows, indeed, some
conception of the true source of rain; but his whole reasoning is
limited by various scriptural texts. He lays great stress upon the
firmament as a solid outer shell of the universe: the heavens he holds
to be not far outside this outer shell, and argues regarding their
character from St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians and from the one
hundred and forty-eighth Psalm. As to "the waters which are above the
firmament," he takes up the objection of those who hold that, this
outside of the universe being spherical, the waters must slide off it,
especially if the firmament revolves; and he points out that it is by
no means certain that the OUTSIDE of the firmament IS spherical, and
insists that, if it does revolve, the water is just what is needed to
lubricate and cool its axis.

(199) For Tertullian, see the Apol. contra gentes, c. 47; also Augustin
de Angelis, Lectiones Meteorologicae, p. 64. For Hilary, see In Psalm
CXXXV. (Migne, Patr. Lat., vol. ix, p. 773).

(200) "Firmans tonitrua" (Amos iv, 13); the phrase does not appear in
our version.

St. Jerome held that God at the Creation, having spread out the
firmament between heaven and earth, and having separated the upper
waters from the lower, caused the upper waters to be frozen into ice,
in order to keep all in place. A proof of this view Jerome found in
the words o