APPENDICES. 259 



Scripture and Science, by a great work, which, was 

 not only to refute the "old wives' fable" of the 

 Antipodes, but was to form a complete system of 

 the universe, based upon the infallible teaching of 

 the Word pf God. This wonderful book, entitled 

 Topogra/phia Christiana, or Christian Opinion concern- 

 ing the World, opens with a tone of great confidence ; 

 declaring itself to be "A Christian Topography of 

 the Universe," established by demonstrations from 

 Divine Scripture, concerning which ."it is not lawful 

 for a Christian to doubt." In a similar strain 

 Cosmas proceeds to censure severely those weak- 

 kneed Christians who had allowed the subtleties of 

 Greek fables, or the deceitful glitter of mere human 

 science, to lead them astray ; forgetting that Scrip- 

 ture contained intimations of the nature of the 

 universe of far higher value and authority than any 

 to which unassisted man could attain. His idea of 

 Cosmogony was as follows. The world was a flat 

 parallelogram ; its length from east to west being 

 double its breadth from north to south. In the 

 centre is the earth we inhabit, surrounded by the 

 ocean, which is again encircled by another earth, in 

 which men lived before the Flood. To the north of 

 the world was a high conical mountain, around 

 which the sun and moon continually revolve. 

 When the sun is hid behind the mountain, it is 

 night ; when it is on our side of the mountain, it is 

 day. To the edges of the outer earth the sky is 

 glued, consisting of four very high walls, rising to a 

 vast concave roof, and forming an immense edifice, of 

 which our world is the floor. This edifice is divided 

 into two stories by the firmament, which is placed 



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