64 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



miles above the level of the ocean. 3. That the 

 earth is round from north to south, appears from 

 the following circumstance : When we travel a 

 considerable distance from north to south, or from 

 south to north, a number of new stars succes 

 sively appear in the heavens, in the quarter to 

 which we are advancing, and many of those in the 

 opposite quarter gradually disappear, which &quot;A-ould 

 not happen if the earth were a plane in that direc 

 tion. 4. That the earth is round from east to west, 

 appears from actual experiment ; for many navi 

 gators, by sailing in a westerly direction, have 

 gone quite round it, from east to west ; and were 

 it not for the frozen seas within the polar regions, 

 which interrupt navigation in those directions, 

 it would, long ere now, have been circumnavi 

 gated from north to south. 5. All those proofs 

 are confirmed and illustrated by eclipses of the 

 moon, which present an ocular demonstration of 

 the earth s rotundity. An eclipse of the moon 

 is caused by the intervention of the body of the 

 earth between the sun and moon ; in which case 

 the shadow of the earth falls upon the moon. 

 This shadow is found, in all cases, and in every 

 position of the earth, to be of a circular figure ; 

 which incontrovertibly proves, that the whole 

 mass of land and water, of which the earth is 

 composed, is nearly of a globular form. The 

 mountains and vales which diversify its surface 

 detract little or nothing from its globular shape ; 

 for they bear no more proportion to its whole 

 bulk than a few grains of sand to a common ter 

 restrial globe ; the highest mountains on its sur 

 face being little more than the two-thousandth 

 part of its diameter. Some of the mountains 

 on the surface of the moon are higher than those 

 on the earth, and yet that body appears, both to 

 the naked eye and through telescopes, of a 

 spherical figure. 



To some readers, the discovery of the true 

 figure of the earth may appear as a matter of 

 very trivial importance in religion. I hesitate 

 not, however, to affirm that it constitutes a most 

 important fact in the history of Divine Provi 

 dence. Had not this discovery been made, it 

 is probable that the vast continent of America 

 might yet have remained undiscovered ; for, 

 Columbus, who first discovered that new world, 

 had learned, contrary to the general opinion of 

 the times, that the earth was of a spherical 

 figure ; and, from the maps then existing, he 

 began to conjecture, that the nearest way of 

 sailing to the East Indies would be to sail 

 westward. And although he missed the object 

 of his research, he was the means of laying 

 open to view a vast and unknown region of the 

 earth, destined, in due time, to receive from the 

 Eastern world the blessings of knowledge, civi 

 lization, and religion. On the knowledge of the 

 spherical figure of the earth, the art of naviga 

 tion in a great measure depends ; and all the 

 voyages of discovery, which have been made 



in later years, were undertaken in consequence 

 of the knowledge of this fact. Had mankina 

 remained unacquainted with this discovery, the 

 circumnavigation of the globe would never have 

 been attempted vast portions of the habituble 

 world would have remained unknown and unex 

 plored no regular intercourse would have been 

 maintained between the various tribes of the 

 human race ; and, consequently, the blessings 

 of Divine Revelation could never hive been 

 communicated to the greater part of the Gentile 

 world. Besides, the knowledge of the true figure 

 and magnitude of our sublunary world forms the 

 groundwork of all the sublime discoveries 

 which have hitherto been made in the regions 

 of the firmament. For its diameter forms the 

 base line of those triangles by which the dis 

 tances and magnitudes of the celestial globes 

 have been determined ; without a knowledge of 

 the extent of which, the important results which 

 have been deduced respecting the system of the 

 universe could not have been ascertained, and, 

 consequently, our views of the grandeur and 

 omnipotence of the Deity, and of the magnifi 

 cence and extent of his dominions, must have 

 been much more circumscribed than thsy now 

 are. Such is the intimate connexion that sub 

 sists between every part of the chain of Divino 

 dispensations, that if any one link had been 

 either broken or dissolved, the state of things, 

 in the moral and intellectual world, would have 

 been veiy different from what it now is; and 

 the plans of Providence, for accomplishing the 

 renovation and improvement of mankind, would 

 have been either partially or totally frustrated. 



With regard to the magnitude of the earth 

 I have already stated the mode by which we 

 may acquire the most accurate and comprehen 

 sive conception of this particular, in the course 

 of the illustrations which were given of the om 

 nipotence of Deity, (pp. 9 11.) It is ne 

 cessary here only to remark that, according to 

 the latest computations, the diameter of the 

 earth is about 7,930 miles, and its circumference 

 24,912 miles ; and consequently, the whole sur 

 face of the land and water it contains compre 

 hends an area of 197,552,160 miles. The pro 

 portion of land and water on its st^face cannot 

 be very accurately ascertained ; but it is quite 

 evident, from an inspection of a map of the 

 world, that the water occupies at least two-thirdg 

 of its surface, and, of course, the land cannot 

 occupy more than one-third. Supposing it to be 

 only one-fourth of the earth s surface, it will 

 contain 49,387,040 square miles, which is con 

 siderably more than what is stated in most of 

 our late systems of geography ; in some of which 

 the extent of the land is rated at 39 millions, 

 and in others so low as 30 millions of square 

 miles the former of which statements being 

 less than one-fifth, and the latter less than one- 

 sixth of the surface of the globe. But it ifl 



