th is a flat parallelogram, and that
from its outer edges rise immense walls supporting the firmament; then,
throwing together the reference to the firmament in Genesis and the
outburst of poetry in the Psalms regarding the "waters that be above
the heavens," he insisted that over the terrestrial universe are
solid arches bearing a vault supporting a vast cistern "containing
the waters"; finally, taking from Genesis the expression regarding
the "windows of heaven," he insisted that these windows are opened and
closed by the angels whenever the Almighty wishes to send rain upon the
earth or to withhold it.

This was accepted by the universal Church as a vast contribution to
thought; for several centuries it was the orthodox doctrine, and various
leaders in theology devoted themselves to developing and supplementing
it.

About the beginning of the seventh century, Isidore, Bishop of Seville,
was the ablest prelate in Christendom, and was showing those great
qualities which led to his enrolment among the saints of the Church. His
theological view of science marks an epoch. As to the "waters above the
firmament," Isidore contends that they must be lower than, the uppermost
heaven, though higher than the lower heaven, because in the one hundred
and forty-eighth Psalm they are mentioned AFTER the heavenly bodies
and the "heaven of heavens," but BEFORE the terrestrial elements. As to
their purpose, he hesitates between those who held that they were stored
up there by the prescience of God for the destruction of the world at
the Flood, as the words of Scripture that "the windows of heaven were
opened" seemed to indicate, and those who held that they were kept there
to moderate the heat of the heavenly bodies. As to the firmament, he is
in doubt whether it envelops the earth "like an eggshell," or is merely
spread over it "like a curtain"; for he holds that the passage in the
one hundred and fourth Psalm may be used to support either view.

Having laid these scriptural foundations, Isidore shows considerable
power of thought; indeed, at times, when he discusses the rainbow, rain,
hail, snow, and frost, his theories are rational, and give evidence
that, if he could have broken away from his adhesion to the letter of
Scripture, he might have given a strong impulse to the evolution of a
true science.(203)

(203) For Cosmas, see his Topographia Christiana (in Montfaucon,
Collectio nova patrum, vol. ii), and the more compl