When not speaking of their numbers, but of the order and regularity of their movements, Scripture compares them to an army advancing to battle. It represents this celestial army as incomparable for the multitude of its soldiers, and the perfection of its evolutions. Filled with wonder at the magnificence of the heavens, the sacred writer exclaims, in rapture, "They declare the glory of the Almighty; and, although without words and voice, they do not the less proclaim his power and glory."

lated the expression rouach, which properly signifies the air or the aëriform layer which environs the globe, by the term wind, although they have preserved its true sense to the word mischkal, that is to say heaviness or weight.

They have been led to do this, because they were unable to conceive that the air could be heavy; and, knowing from experience that we encounter a certain resistance when moving against its beds or layers in motion, they have ascribed weight to it on account of its strength and power. Instead of following Scripture, and assigning to the air itself a certain weight, they have referred it to the agitation and impetuosity of its movable strata.

It is thus that the Bible represents to us Him whose majesty is above the heavens, and who humbles himself even when he looks upon the celestial vault. Between the animated representations which it gives us of this Infinite Being, whom the universe cannot contain, and those which have been handed down to us by the greatest geniuses of antiquity, the distance is so great that no comparison can be instituted. It is the same with the notions Scripture gives us and what the ancient theogonies have transmitted respecting God, as with what regards the material world and its formation.

Scripture is not less exact when it describes the different constellations. It represents the Pleiades as owing their lustre to a great number of stars placed close together. It speaks, on the contrary, of the stars of Orion as remote from each other, and in some measure, as it were, dispersed through the celestial vault. In alluding to the brilliant constellation of the Great Bear, it represents it as composed of an infinite number of resplendent stars.

It is not only when considered in relation to these great views, that Scripture appears in harmony with the discoveries of science; the fact is even more conspicuous when we regard the phenomena of the material world in detail. Thus, when it speaks of the air, it represents it as possessing a certain weight, and surrounding the earth in movable layers. In fact, in that admirable song of Solomon's, where he describes the eternity of the Infinite Wisdom, does he not tell us that it existed when God established the air above the earth, when he assigned their equilibrium to the waters of the fountains, and laid the foundations of the earth?*

In like manner, Scripture first informed us, "That God gave to the air its weight, (mischkal,) and to the waters their just measure." Yet this property of the aëriform fluid which surrounds the earth remained unknown till the time of Galileo and Torricelli. At the most, Aristotle had but a faint idea of it, just as, at a later period, Seneca had some notion of its resilience and elasticity.

This weight attributed to the air, has appeared so extraordinary to all the interpreters of the Book of Job, where it is literally stated, that, from not being able to comprehend it, they have altogether misinterpreted it. All of them have trans

* Proverbs viii. 28, 29.

attempting to ascertain whether it was conformable to the true sense of the Hebrew text.

If the old interpreters had understood the true sense of the 7th verse of the 135th Psalm, they would have found in it an additional proof of Scripture attributing weight to the air. The psalmist there praises God, "Because he maketh lightnings for the rain, and because he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth, and bringeth the winds out of his treasuries." The ascent of the aqueous vapors in the midst of the air, is the consequence of their lightness being greater than that of the atmospheric strata through which they pass. Both the one and the other of them are, therefore, heavy, and the excess of weight is here in favor of that which, at the first glance, would appear destitute of it.

As they are regarded by Scripture, the aqueous vapors are the source of clouds, whence the waters descend which fertilize the fields, or lay them waste when they are too abundant. They are, therefore, the cause of impetuous rains and storms, when they afford a free passage to the lightnings of thunder. Scripture thus recognizes their density, and that of the aeriform stratum which affords them access to the middle of its interstices.

The Bible thus represents to us the aqueous vapors as constantly suspended in the air, and nature, by an admirable system of circulation, as employing these vapors in the production of clouds, the source of the rains which fecundate the earth.* Scripture assigns to the atmosphere and to the upper waters, that is to say, to the aqueous vapors suspended in its bosom, an importance which modern science alone has been able to establish. At least, according to the calculation of the greatest natural philosophers, the force annually employed by nature in the formation of clouds, is equal to an exertion which the whole human species could not accomplish in less than 200,000 years.†

This separation of the upper waters from the lower waters," has taken place by means of the atmosphere, and not by a solid sphere, as the greater number of the interpreters of Genesis have erro

* See Job, chap. xxvi. 8; xxxvi. 27; xxxvii. 11 and 12; xxxviii. 25 and 37; Ps. lxxvii. 17; Proverbs viii. 28.

The reader may consult on this subject the calculations of Leslie and Arago. The latter admits that about 800,000,000 of men form the half of the population of the globe. In the calculation, the result of which is given above, there would only be the half of that number engaged in the work destined for the formation of clouds, (Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, 1835, p. 196.)

neously supposed. In fact, the Hebrew word rakiah, which we have rendered by interval or firmament, is far from having the least relation to anything firm or indurated. It rather designates a vapory space, that is to say, an aëriform layer, but by no means a heaven of metal, as Don Calmet has unreasonably imagined.

The Bible here indicates to us the importance of water in the formation of the earth. It further informs us that, besides the water diffused through the atmosphere, or which covers the greater part of the surface of the globe,* there exist quantities, not less considerable, in the interior of the globe. Its solid crust, it is stated, covers a great abyss from this abyss the waters made a violent eruption at the period of the deluge, as at the time of chaos, and the innumerable ages which had preceded it.t

ence.

Scripture does not confine itself to these particulars, in order to enable us to understand that, besides the great masses of water spread over the surface of the globe, there exist others not less considerable in the interior. The earth is founded and stretched out, it informs us, on the subterranean waters: they are there assembled, as in a mass, in the most secret places of its depth, whence they at times escape to impart fertility to the most barren soils.*

Thus the Sacred Scriptures, antecedently to modern discoveries, show us the exterior crust of the earth issuing from the bosom of the waters, and this same crust enclosing in its interior an immense quantity of water, in a liquid state. These facts have been confirmed by observation and sciIs it not consistent with common experience, that subterranean waters are almost as abundant as those which flow on the surface of the earth? The globe would appear to contain in its interior, rivers, torrents, lakes, and perhaps even seas. When the Bible speaks of the deluge, it represents it as produced by impetuous and violent rains, the flood-gates of heaven being opened. On the other hand, it describes the waters enclosed in the bowels of the earth, as having gushed up to the surface in torrents. They swelled, at the same time, the exterior waters, which accumulated and overflowed on every side, according to the energetic expression of Job. All these causes united produced this terrible catastrophe, which brought destruction on the human race, and which was followed by their renovation. Such facts are still the cause, not indeed of deluges analogous to that the violence of which the Bible describes, but of inundations which afflict and desolate the earth at distant and rare intervals. The waters of the heavens are incapable of producing them, as they were incapable of causing a cataclysm, such as that which occasioned the destruction of man. In fact, the quantity of aqueous vapor diffused through the atmosphere is too inconsiderable to produce deluges resembling that of Noah, the extent of which physical facts sufficiently attest.

*Psalm civ. 25, makes us acquainted with the grandeur of the ocean in these terms: This great and spacious sea. Zechariah describes its extent by saying, the Messiah shall reign "from sea to sea;" that is to say, throughout the whole earth; Zechariah ix. 10. See Amos viii. 12; Micah vii. 12: Ps. lxxii. 8.

2;

+ See Genesis vii. 11; Ps. lxxvii.; civ.

Thus, when it describes the riches of the country of Canaan, to which a wonderful exuberance of vegetation is promised for the latter times, it represents it not only as abounding in springs and fountains, but particularly in subterranean waters. It seems thereby to anticipate the process of perforation, by means of which the moderns have succeeded in fertilizing the most barren fields and the most sterile countries.

We find, moreover, in the Scriptures, proofs of the extent of the seas in the early ages; they even contain some succinct details respecting the animals which inhabited them, the greater part of which have preceded the species of the dry and uncovered land. Such facts have required long spaces of time for their operation. In truth, the numerous generations buried in the old strata of the globe, and to which the present existing races have succeeded, must have lived during periods of greater or less duration, in order to fulfil the end of their creation. This circumstance of itself proves that the word iom, used in Genesis, and which is translated day, means rather indeterminate epochs, the duration of which it is impossible for us to fix.

According to Ps. cxxxvi. 6, the earth is founded and stretched out above the waters: Quis firmavit terram super aquas?" The Lord has founded the earth upon the seas, and established it upon the floods," Ps. xxiv. "Les géants gémissent sous les caur," Job xxvi. 5. [The French and German versions of this passage differ from the English translation.-ED.] Moses wishes for Joseph," the blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath," that is to say, abundance of spring water; Deut, xxxiii. 13.-[Several references are here made by the author to passages of Scripture, which he regards as corroborating his statements. These references, probably from typographical errors, are, in many cases, obviously incorrect, and are therefore omitted.-ED.]

§ See Job xxxviii. 8; Genesis vii. 11 (rupti sunt fontes abyssi et cataractes cœli aperiuntur.)

While enabling us to understand the extent of the seas, Scripture does not fail to declare to us that God has marked out their limits, and has fixed their boundaries and barriers, which they cannot pass over. In its poetical style it exclaims, Sea, hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed."

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In other places it points out the depth of the sea, and refers to the greatness of its abysses, maintained by the waters which issue from the bosom of the clouds. The rains also quench the parched lands, and cause the grass of the meadow to spring. With regard to the waters, they are sometimes converted into ice, and become hard as a stone their solidity thus accidentally gives solidity to the surface of the sea.

It represents the frost as spread over the earth like salt, and making the plants rough like the leaves of thistles. When the cold north wind blows, the water becomes as crystal. The frost rests on the whole mass of waters, and renders them like an impenetrable breastplate.

When the snow falls on the earth, it extends itself over it like a multitude of birds of passage lighting upon it in flocks; it spreads itself like hosts of locusts descending from the clouds. The eye admires the brilliancy of its whiteness; but the mind is alarmed at the inundations it threatens. Finally, when the bad weather ceases, the warm and moist winds become felt, and with them the snow and frost disappear. Thus, throughout, and at every step, Scripture indicates to us the influence of the waters diffused through space, and their effects on the earth.

The Bible, in order to give us an idea of the

* See Ps. xxiv. 2; xxxiii. 7.

One circumstance may well surprise us, and that is, to find in the Bible mountains distinguished into two classes, very nearly in the same manner as they are distinguished by science into primitive and secondary. Thus, in the 104th Psalm, a composition of incomparable poetical beauty, the prophet gives us an idea of the formation of the

Who, then, has informed Job that the interior of the earth was filled with such a burning heat? Who has taught him the existence of the central fire, the possibility of which Buffon had conceived before the hypothesis had become a demonstrated fact? We do not reply to this question, on account of the point of view under which we have considered the Sacred Books.

the waters of the deep as with a garment. The waters stood above all the mountains, but many of these eminences became elevated, and rose above their level; the waters then retired and fled. New mountains then appeared, and valleys and plains, the lowest parts of the globe, were formed at their feet. Two principal epochs, then, must have been in the mind of the prophet, from the time of the rising up of the heights which appear on all parts of the globe; these two epochs correspond to the formation of primitive and secondary mountains.

Fur

The Sacred Books, it is true, in giving us an idea of these great facts, has not taught us them in the language of natural philosophers. Their language is never that of Copernicus, Newton, Kepler, or Laplace. The reason which has prevented the authors of these admirable books from doing this, is one of the strongest that can be conceived. If they had expressed themselves respecting the scenes of nature, not as these present themselves to our eyes, but according to the notions which philosophers of a future age might form of them, they would certainly not have been understood, even by the most enlightened minds.

Besides, the most advanced language of science is almost in every instance only the language of appearances. The visible and material world is, to a greater extent than is supposed, a scene of illusions and errors. What we call reality is often a mere figure, having a relation to a more hidden reality, or to an analysis carried a further length. Such an expression, in our mouths, has nothing absolute in it; it is a relative term, which we employ in proportion as we believe that we have as cended a new step in the profound scale of our ignorance.

Above all, it was necessary that Scripture should be intelligible to the most vulgar individuals, as well as to the most learned. Let us not, therefore, be surprised that it expresses itself according to the habitual and familiar language of science, and that, with it, it speaks of the stars rising, the equinoxes retiring, the planets advancing and doubling their speed, standing still, and moving backwards. We need no longer be surprised that it speaks of the rising and the setting of the sun, since these modes of expression are

*The Hebrew word thakhethejah, used by Job, chap. xxviii. 5, means beneath it. The text runs, "It is from the earth that bread comes; and beneath it, it is turned up, and as on fire."

ther, in the 97th Psalm, Scripture represents the mountains to be melting like wax, nearly as those might have done who had seen the rocks of Auvergne or Cantal in a fluid state, or the basalt of the Giant's Causeway melted like water.

The Bible then represents to us the mass of mountains issuing from the bosom of the earth at the voice of God, and rising above the plains and valleys. It gives us an account of the process of their elevation, in terms which might have been used by a poetical geologist. "The mountains," is the enthusiastic language employed, "the mountains rise above the deep, and the valleys sink to the place which thou hast chosen for them."

Reference is even made to the force by which they have been elevated; it is represented as proportionate to the elevation to which these eminences have been raised, heing most powerful when employed in elevating the mountains properly so called, and weaker when its efforts were limited to the raising of the hills above the valleys. In its figurative style, it compares the elevation of the former to the skipping of rams, and that of the second to the leaping of lambs.*

The earth is thus represented as being soft as clay, at the time of these great events. It is then described as having assumed a new face, and having adorned itself with a new garment,f a sort of allusion to the sedimentary deposits with which the superficial crust became covered.

When Scripture speaks of the electric fluid, it represents it to us as resounding throughout the whole space of the heavens, and causing its lightnings to shine even to the remotest parts of the earth. After their light the thunder roars, and its rolling sound is heard. The noise of the thunder, it says, announces that the wrath of God is about to fall on all that aspires to elevate itself. Scarcely has the sound been heard, when the bolt has already struck. Thus God breaks forth in the voice of his thunder; he who works such great and

* See Job xxviii. 4; Psalm xc. 2; xcvii. 5; civ. 6, 8, 9; cxliv. 5; Proverbs viii. 25; Ezekiel xlvii.; Zechariah xiv. 4, 8.

† See Job xxxviii. 14.