But the following Synopsis, I believe, will abundantly convince you that from certain Observations only, we ought to form all our Notions of it, if we either hope to arrive at Truth, or expect our Ideas should be supported by Reason.
Aristotle was of Opinion, that the Universe, or Heaven, was all one World, and St. Chrysostom, Tertullian, St. Bonaventure, Tycho Brahe, Longomontanus, Kepler, Bulialdus and Tellez, were of an united Opinion, that this one Heaven, or Universe, was all sidereal and fluid. But Aegidius, Hurtadus, Cisalpinus, and Aversa, believing the same Heaven with them to be all one World, and that sidereal, yet on the contrary held it to be solid.
Clemens, Acacius, Theodoret, Anastasius, Synaita, Procopius, Suidus, S. Bruno, and Claudianus Mamertus, supposed the universal mundane Space as divided into two Heavens, namely,
The Empyræum created the first Day,
And the Firmament created the second Day.
Two Heavens were also held by Justin Martyr, the one sidereal, and the other aerial. The first supposed by St. Gregory Nyssene, to be that of the fixed Stars, and the last, that of the Planets. But Mastrius and Bellutus, though agreeing in the Number of Heavens, calls one the *Primum Mobile, and the other, the Starry Heaven.
Farther, St. Basil, St. Ambrose, Damascene, Cassiodorus, Genebrardus, Suarez, Tannerus, Hurtadus, Oviedus, Tellez, and Borrus, distinguished the Universe as divided into three Portions, or Heavens.
| Or, as Cajetan. | Tho. Aquinas. | |
| The first called the Empyræum, | Watery, | |
| The second supposed Sidereal, | Sidereal, | Watery, |
| And the last of all, Aerial. | Aerial, | Sidereal. |
Again, St. Athanasius adds to those of the fix'd Stars, the Planets, and the Air, that of the Empyræum, and makes in all four Heavens.
But as the Number of the Heavens thus increases, and will become subdivided in the subsequent Account of them, to give you a better Idea of the Order of these celestial Portions of the mundane Space, it will not be amiss to form what remains of them into regular Sections of their proper Spheres and Systems.