ignorant peasant were to ask the geographer to bring him round the earth and show him the different countries on the map; the geographer shows him a large map, and points with his finger to Asia, America, Africa, Europe; then he brings out map after map and shows him the different seas, rivers, provinces, kingdoms, and principalities of the whole world. Wonderful! exclaims the peasant; I had no idea the world was so big. He then goes to the astronomer to learn something of the heavens; the astronomer turns round the celestial globe, and shows him all sorts of circles and straight and curved lines; there, he says, in that lowest circle is the moon's orbit; in the next one this planet; in this the sun has its orbit; above these orbits comes the firmament, where the fixed stars are, and so he goes on describing the whole heavens in detail. The peasant stares open-mouthed. But, ho asks, what is that in the middle of the globe? pointing to a small sphere no larger than a hazelnut. That, answers the other, is the earth, the world in which we live. But, my dear sir, replies the peasant, I have just come from a geographer who has shown me on his maps that the world is a huge globe, and now you wish to persuade me that it is only the size of a nut? Which am I to believe? Suppose now that some one overhears this, and whispers in his ear: do not be surprised at what you hear; the first man you went to was a geographer; this one is an astronomer; they have different branches of science to deal with; the former showed you only the earth and nothing more; this one shows you the heavens and the earth at the same time. He who considers the earth alone looks on it as wonderfully great and of vast extent, but he who contemplates the courses of the heavenly bodies and sees the earth at the same time will soon be aware that the latter is only a small affair in comparison with the heavens.
So does the devil deceive us. My dear brethren, the devil is a most skilful geographer, who well knows how to depict everything that belongs to the earth as most beautiful, glorious, and great. He did not hesitate to show his map even to our divine Lord, with the intention of thereby leading Him to indulge in greed of earthly goods; he led Him to the top of a high mountain, "and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: All these will I give Thee if falling down Thou wilt adore me."[1] So he acts daily with us mortals; see, he says to our im-
- ↑ Et ostendit ei omnia regna mundi et gloriam eorum, et dixit ei: hæc omnia tibi dabo, si cadens adoraveris me.—Matt. iv. 8, 9.
