January
1672.

Cosin occupies an interesting and peculiar position among the churchmen
of his time. Though a ritualist and a rigorous enforcer of outward
conformity, he was uncompromisingly hostile to Roman Catholicism, and
most of his writings illustrate this antagonism. In France he was on
friendly terms with Huguenots, justifying himself on the ground that
their non-episcopal ordination had not been of their own seeking, and at
the Savoy conference in 1661 he tried hard to effect a reconciliation
with the Presbyterians. He differed from the majority of his colleagues
in his strict attitude towards Sunday observance and in favouring, in
the case of adultery, both divorce and the re-marriage of the innocent
party. He was a genial companion, frank and outspoken, and a good man of
business.

Among his writings (most of which were published posthumously) are a
_Historia Transubstantiationis Papalis_ (1675), _Notes and Collections
on the Book of Common Prayer_ (1710) and _A Scholastical History of
the Canon of Holy Scripture_ (1657). A collected edition of his works,
forming 5 vols. of the Oxford _Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology_,
was published between 1843 and 1855; and his _Correspondence_ (2
vols.) was edited by Canon Ornsby for the Surtees Society (1868-1870).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See John Evelyn's _Diary_ (Oct. 12, 1651).

COSMAS, of Alexandria, surnamed from his maritime experiences
_Indicopleustes_, merchant and traveller, flourished during the 6th
century A.D. The surname is inaccurate, since he never reached India
proper; further, it is doubtful whether Cosmas is a family name, or
merely refers to his reputation as a cosmographer. In his earlier days
he had sailed on the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, visiting Abyssinia
and Socotra and apparently also the Persian Gulf, western India and
Ceylon. He subsequently became a monk, and about 548, in the retirement
of a Sinai cloister, wrote a work called _Topographia Christiana_. Its
chief object is to denounce the false and heathen doctrine of the
rotundity of the earth, and to vindicate the scriptural account of the
world. Photius, who had read it, calls it a "commentary on the
Octateuch" (meaning the eight books of Ptolemy's great geographical
work; according to some, the first eight books of the Old Testament).
According to Cosmas the earth is a rectangular plane, covered by the
vaulted roof of the firmament, above which lies heaven. In th