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.
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