on, and were carried by it in
the form of clouds. No doubt their knowledge in this respect, as in
others, was the growth of time. But there is no need to suppose that,
even in the earlier stages of their development, the Hebrews thought of
the "waters that be above the heavens" as contained in a literal cistern
overhead. Still less is there reason to adopt Prof. Schiaparelli's
strange deduction: "Considering the spherical and convex shape of the
firmament, the upper waters could not remain above without a second wall
to hold them in at the sides and the top. So a second vault above the
vault of the firmament closes in, together with the firmament, a space
where are the storehouses of rain, hail, and snow."[43:1] There seems to
be nowhere in Scripture the slightest hint or suggestion of any such
second vault; certainly not in the beautiful passage to which Prof.
Schiaparelli is here referring.

"Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
And as for darkness, where is the place thereof;
That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
And that thou shouldst discern the paths to the house thereof.

* * * * *

Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,
Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,
Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
Against the day of battle and war?
By what way is the light parted,
Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood,
Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;

* * * * *

Hath the rain a father?
Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?"

The Song of David, Psalm xviii., clearly shows that its writer held no
fantasy of a solidly built cistern of waters in the sky, but thought of
the "dark waters" in the heavens, as identical with the "thick clouds."
The passage is worth quoting at some length, not merely as supplying a
magnificent word picture of a storm, but as showing the free and
courageous spirit of the Hebrew poet, a spirit more emancipated than can
be found in any other nation of antiquity. It was not only the gentler
aspect of nature that attracted him; even for its most terrible, he had
a sympathy, rising, under the influence of his strong faith in God, into
positiv