5. For what fault have they to find with the
vast creation of God?—they, who ought to have been struck with
amazement on beholding the vaultings of the heavens: they, who
ought to have worshipped Him who reared the sky as a dome, who out of
the fluid nature of the waters formed the stable substance of the
heaven. For God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of
the water Gen. i. 6.. God spake
once for all, and it stands fast, and falls not. The heaven is
water, and the orbs therein, sun, moon, and stars are of fire:
and how do the orbs of fire run their course in the water? But if
any one disputes this because of the opposite natures of fire and
water, let him remember the fire which in the time of Moses in Egypt
flamed amid the hail, and observe the all-wise workmanship of
God. For since there was need of water, because the earth was to
be tilled, He made the heaven above of water that when the region of
the earth should need watering by showers, the heaven might from its
nature be ready for this purpose.