Astronomy and the Bible;

CHAPTER VIII

TheEarthinSpace

CLOSELYassociatedwiththeolderrorthatthe
earthwasthecenteroftheuniverse,wasan-
other, equally erroneous, and possibly more
fataltoadvancement inthetruth. Itwasthebelief
thattheearthhadamaterialsupport. Somesupposed
theearthtobeflat,and afloatonanimmense ocean.
Others, whiletheybelievedthatitwasflat,declared
thatitwassupportedbyenormouspillars. Whatthe
pillarsrestedon,allseemedtobeperfectlywillingto
leavetouncertainty. Theymusthave asupport for
theearth;theydidnotcareto tracethematterhack
furtherthanthat.
One advancefromthisenslavingerrorwasappre-
ciationofthefactthattheearthisround. Asnearly
aswecannowtell,therehavealwaysbeenatleasta
fewwhohaverealizedthattheearthisround;butit
wasnotgenerallybelieved. Hundreds ofyears ago
theWord declaredthesamegreattruth. Thereare
anumber oftextswhich cannotbeexplainedexcept
inthelightofthis truth; andinoneplace,wehave
8i