of fragments of Chaldean and other early
theories preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures, a new sacred system of
astronomy, which became one of the great treasures of the universal
Church--the last word of revelation.

Three great men mainly reared this structure. First was the unknown who
gave to the world the treatises ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite.
It was unhesitatingly believed that these were the work of St. Paul's
Athenian convert, and therefore virtually of St. Paul himself. Though
now known to be spurious, they were then considered a treasure of
inspiration, and an emperor of the East sent them to an emperor of the
West as the most worthy of gifts. In the ninth century they were widely
circulated in western Europe, and became a fruitful source of thought,
especially on the whole celestial hierarchy. Thus the old ideas of
astronomy were vastly developed, and the heavenly hosts were classed
and named in accordance with indications scattered through the sacred
Scriptures.

The next of these three great theologians was Peter Lombard, professor
at the University of Paris. About the middle of the twelfth century he
gave forth his collection of Sentences, or Statements by the Fathers,
and this remained until the end of the Middle Ages the universal manual
of theology. In it was especially developed the theological view of
man's relation to the universe. The author tells the world: "Just as
man is made for the sake of God--that is, that he may serve Him,--so the
universe is made for the sake of man--that is, that it may serve HIM;
therefore is man placed at the middle point of the universe, that he may
both serve and be served."

The vast significance of this view, and its power in resisting any real
astronomical science, we shall see, especially in the time of Galileo.

The great triad of thinkers culminated in St. Thomas Aquinas--the
sainted theologian, the glory of the mediaeval Church, the "Angelic
Doctor," the most marvellous intellect between Aristotle and Newton; he
to whom it was believed that an image of the Crucified had spoken words
praising his writings. Large of mind, strong, acute, yet just--even more
than just--to his opponents, he gave forth, in the latter half of the
thirteenth century, his Cyclopaedia of Theology, the Summa Theologica.
In this he carried the sacred theory of the universe to its full
development. With great power and clearness he brought the whole vast
system, material and spirit