NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

On the Firmament.be a firmament.” It is the voice of the primary and principal Cause. “And God made thefirmament.” Here is a witness to the active and creative power of God.5. But let us continue our explanation: “Let it divide the waters from the waters.” 1479The mass of waters, which from all directions flowed over the earth, and was suspended inthe air, was infinite, so that there was no proportion between it and the other elements.Thus, as it has been already said, the abyss covered the earth. We give the reason for thisabundance of water. None of you assuredly will attack our opinion; not even those whohave the most cultivated minds, and whose piercing eye can penetrate this perishable andfleeting nature; you will not accuse me of advancing impossible or imaginary theories, norwill you ask me upon what foundation the fluid element rests. By the same reason whichmakes them attract the earth, heavier than water, from the extremities of the world to suspendit in the centre, they will grant us without doubt that it is due both to its natural attractiondownwards and its general equilibrium, that this immense quantity of water rests motionlessupon the earth. 1480 Therefore the prodigious mass of waters was spread around the earth;not in proportion with it and infinitely larger, thanks to the foresight of the supreme Artificer,Who, from the beginning, foresaw what was to come, and at the first provided all for thefuture needs of the world. But what need was there for this superabundance of water? Theessence of fire is necessary for the world, not only in the economy of earthly produce, butfor the completion of the universe; for it would be imperfect 1481 if the most powerful andthe most vital of its elements were lacking. 1482 Now fire and water are hostile to and destructiveof each other. Fire, if it is the stronger, destroys water, and water, if in greaterabundance, destroys fire. As, therefore, it was necessary to avoid an open struggle betweenthese elements, so as not to bring about the dissolution of the universe by the total disappearanceof one or the other, the sovereign Disposer created such a quantity of water thatin spite of constant diminution from the effects of fire, it could last until the time fixed forthe destruction of the world. He who planned all with weight and measure, He who, accordingto the word of Job, knows the number of the drops of rain, 1483 knew how long His workwould last, and for how much consumption of fire He ought to allow. This is the reason of1479 Gen. i. 6.1480 According to Plutarch (περὶ τῶν ἀρέσκ: etc. iii. 10) Thales and the Stoics affirmed the earth to bespherical, Thales (id. 11) placing it “in the middle.” Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 4, says that the earth “universi cardinestare pendentem librantem per quæ pendeat; ita solam immobilem circa eam volubili universitate, eandem exomnibus necti, eidemque omnia inniti.”1481 On κολοβός, docked, curtailed, cf. Matt. xxiv. 22.1482 The supremacy of fire was the idea of Heraclitus. Τὸ πῦρ Θεὸν ὑπειλήφασιν ῞Ιππασος …καὶ ῾Ηράκλειτος.Clem. Alex., Protrep. v. 55. Plutarch has an essay on the comparative use fulness of fire and water.1483 Job xxxvi. 27, LXX.283