flat surface with four corners.
And in proof of their position they quoted Saint Paul, who wanted the
gospel carried to the ends of the earth.

In fact, the universe was a house. The upper story was Heaven, the lower
story was the Earth, and the cellar was Hell. God, the angels and the
"saved" lived in Heaven, man lived on Earth, and the devils and the
damned had Hell to themselves.

"And there shall be no night there," and this was proven by the stars,
which were regarded as peepholes through which mortals could catch
glimpses of the wondrous light of Heaven beyond. Hell was below, as was
clearly shown by volcanoes, when the fierce fires occasionally forced
themselves up through. Darkness to children is always terrible, and the
night is regarded by them as the time of evil.

Later, Churchmen came to believe that the stars were jewels hung in the
sky every night by angels whose business it was to look after them.

The word "firmament" means a solid dome or roof. This firmament, the
sky, was supposed to be the floor of Heaven. The firmament had four
corners and rested on the mountains, as the eye could plainly see. When
God's car was rolled across the floor we heard thunder, and his
movements were always accompanied by lightnings, winds, black clouds and
rain--all this so He could not be too plainly seen.

Heaven was only a little way off--a few miles at the most. So there were
attempts made at times by bad men to reach it. The Greeks had a story
about the Aloidae who piled mountain upon mountain; the Bible story of
the Tower of Babel is the same, where the masons called, "More mort,"
and those below sent up bricks. There is also an ancient Mexican legend
of giants who built the Pyramid of Cholula, and they would have been
successful in their attempts if fire had not been thrown down upon them
from Heaven. In all "Holy Writ" we find accounts of "ascensions,"
"translations," "annunciations," and mortals caught up into the clouds.
Many people had actually seen angels ascending and descending.

"Messengers from on high" and God's secretaries were constantly coming
down on delicate errands. Everything that man did was noted and written
down. We were watched all the time by unseen beings. The Bible tells of
how the Earth was eventually to be destroyed, and then there would be
only Heaven and Hell. God, His Son and the angels were going to come
down, and for ages men watched the heavens to see them appear.

All sensiti