Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-03-21


r. arv innovation upon established docnine
which is apt TO grow upon dull and pedentic
NON in clustered life. What striking spec
,,cle mus, The hall Of the old convent have pre-
..n,ed at that memorable conference! SIM,
nile mariner, standing forth in the midst OF an
imposing array Of professors, frlars, and digni>
tarics Of the church; maintaining his theory
with natural eloquence, s as It were, pleading
the cause Of the new world. We are told, that
when he began TO state the grounds of his be-
lief. the f-iars of St. Stephen alone paid atten-
ton to him; that conven, being more learned
in the sciences than the rest Of the university.
The others appear 10 have entrenched them>
selve. behind one doggec position; that, after
so many profound philosophers and cosmo-
graphers had been studying the form OF the
world, and so many able navigalors had oeen
sailing about l, for several thousand years, II
was grea. presumption in an ordinary man 10
suppose that there remained such vast 9lsco'e-
nv for him TO make.
Several of the objections opposed by this
learned body, have been handed down to US, *
have provoked many d sheer at the expense OF
the University of Salamanca, but they are
proofs not 50 much of the peculiar deficiency
Of that insli ution, as of the imperfect Stale OF
| science at the time, and the manner III which
knowledge, though rapidly extending, was still
| impedrd in lis progress by mohastic blSol' y.
All subjects were still contemplated through
the obscure medium Of those ages, when the
tights of antiquity were tramped out, and 'al'h
was left to fill the place Of inquiry. bew'lder.
ed in a maze OF religious controversy, mankind
had retrAced their steps, and reccded rom inc
| boundary line OF ancient knowledge. mus, at
The very threshold of the discussion, instead OF
geographical objections, Columbus was as
sailed with citations from the Bible ana the
Testamen'; the hook of Genesis, the Psalms OF
David the OF a,ionsof the Prophets,the ePis'les
Of the Apostles, and the gospels OF the E'ahSe
lists. To those were added lie exposili"ns OF
various saints and reverend commentators: st.
Chrysustom and ST. Augustine, 81. jerome and
ST. Gregory, st. Basil and St. Ambrose, and
Lac,anius Firmanus, redouoted champion OF
! the faith. Doctrinal points were mixed u2
with philosophical discussions, and mathe-
ma,ical demons tration was allowed no weight
If ii appeared 10 clash with a IexV OF Scripture,
or commentary If one Of the fathers. Illus
the possibility Of antipodes, IN the southern
hemisphere, an opinion so generally MANI am
Ell by the wisrs, Of he ancients, as to be pro-
nounced by Pi:nv the greatest contest between
the learned and The ignorant, became STUN"
bling block with some Of The sages OF Saiam-
anca. Several of them stoutly contradicted this
fundamental position Of Columbus, supporting
themselves by quotations from Lactantlus, ana
St. Augustine, who were considered IN those
days, as-ialmost evangelical authority. But,
though these writer's were mel o! consu inmate
rrudnion, and two of the Creates summarizes OF
what has been called the golden age ol eceiesl-
aslical lear ming, vet their writings were calcu>
sciences. -'astA,ac,lolht
The passage cied from Lac,an,ius to con
T,.t..
unworthy OF S" grave casuist. is there any
one SO FOOLISH lie asks, 'as to believe that
there are anlipodes with their heels upward,
and their head hanging down? Tina, there is
apart Of the world in which all things are top
sy-turvy;i where the trees grow with their
branches downward, and where it rains, halls,
and SHOWS upward? The idea Of the roundness
OF the earth,' he adds, was the cause of invent
ing this fable Of the antipodes, with their heels
in The air; for, tho Sc philosophers having once
erred, go on in their absurdities, defending one
with amor her.
More grave objections were advanced on the
authority Of ST. Augustine. He pronounces
the doctrine Of antipodes Incompatible with
the historical foundations Of our faitb, since,
to assert that there were inhabited lands on
the opposite side Of The globe, would be TO
maintain, THAT there were nations MOI descend |
ed from Adam, it being impossible for them to
have passed the intervening ocean. This
would &c therefore, 10 dlsc'edit the Bible,
which expressly declares that all men are de-
sCended from one common parent.
Such were the uulookt d-!or pre- judices |
which Columbus hal to encounter at the
very outset of his conference, and which cell
tainy relish more Of The convent than Of the
70 his simplest proposition, the
spherical form af The ehrth, were opposed fig
ura,ive texts Of scripture. They observed,
tina, in the Psalms, the heavens are said to be
extended like skin; that is, according to
the curtain or covering Of
tent, which among The ancient pastoral nations
was formed Of the skin of animals; and that ST.
Paul, in his epislle 10 the Hebrews, compares
the heavens to tabernacle tent, extended
over the earth, which they thence inferred must
be fat.
Columbus, who was a devotly religious
man, found that he was in danger Of being
nc, merely Of error, but OF heterdo1y.
Others more versrd in the science, admitted
The slobular form Of the earth and the possi-