Astronomy and the Bible;

CHAPTER IV

TheAtmosphericHeavens

No

onecanhaveanyadequateideaofastronomy
withoutsome knowledge of the atmospheric
heavens. Theignorantinpastagesmayhave
thoughtthattheheavensencirclinguswerebutplates
thatheldusin,partsofahugecrystalsphere.
Had the Bible expressed this childish idea, that
wouldatoncesuggesttousanearthlyoriginforthe
book;butthoughitwaswrittenintimeswhenallsorts
ofqueerideaswerecurrent,yetitisnowherecontami-
natedbythe follyofthetimes.
Itspurestreamflowsunsullieddowntheages. Its
adherencetotruth is soclose andunbrokenthatthe
livesof someofits greatestmenaretoldinall the
sorrowandshameof theirsometimelapsesinto sin.
WhentheEnglishtranslators a fewcenturies ago
renderedtheBibleinto English,theysometimesused
wordsmoreinharmonywiththeirownideasofscience
andtheologythanwiththeoriginalterms.
One example ofthis is found inthefirst chapter
ofGenesis. "God made the firmament, and divided
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