[324]
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."[324b] 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.
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