yet alluring theory, and upon close examination reveals it as a fiction

and a mirage'.

We await this writer's reaction to the publication of the testimony of the

Septuagint, particularly as he was at pains to quote Plutarch, Herodotus and

other Pagan writers to support his interpretation but made no attempt to

enlighten `many ignorant souls' who could not make the search, that the LXX was

solidly against his views. The reference made by X to an `optical illusion'

arose out of his own experiences.  Going home one night he `suddenly encountered

a real live ghost' he says, his `hair stood on end' when suddenly `a large cow

with a white head' made him realize that `the whole adventure was due to an

optical illusion'.  Well, we hope X will again be undeceived.  At the moment

Plutarch and Herodotus have dazzled his mental eyes, but it is possible that

after pondering the twenty-nine witnesses provided by the LXX, his `illusion'

will resolve itself once again into a homely cow `with a white head bobbing up

and down'.  The unfortunate thing is, however, `many ignorant souls' will still

believe in the `real live ghost'.  While X was under this illusion he naturally

had a distorted vision, and so he set about proving that the `world' in the New

Testament cannot refer to anything outside human society, and that it never

signifies a planet or a star.  He writes:

`Our next step must be, in case someone should enquire, "Is the word

kosmos never used of an orb, a starry world, a planet?" to find out just

how the term is used in the New Testament.  Kosmos occurs in the New

Testament nearly 190 times.  There is thus very ample scope to fix its

true meaning and characteristics.  In the LXX it is found about two dozen

In this last sentence X makes it clear that he knew what the LXX teaches

as to the meaning of kosmos, but here he practices what he has elseware called

`elliptic reasonings', which quietly ignores evidence that is awkward or

antagonistic to his views.  He occupies another eight pages of print in which he

can find space to quote from six pagan Greek writers, but if he had quoted one

reference, namely, the first occurrence of kosmos in the LXX his objection would

have been exposed for the worthless thing it is.

Before quoting the LXX, let us examine the Dictionary.

The following is

taken from Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary:

`Cosmos. Greek -- (1) order, (2) ornament, (3) ruler, (4) the world or

universe from its perfect order and arrangement as opposed to chaos'.

It will be seen that the Editors of this Dictionary would have had no

hesitation in using cosmos of Genesis 1:2; in fact their reference to `chaos'

almost supposes that it had been in mind.  To proceed with the quotation:

`Ancient Philosophy.  The term kosmos in the fourth sense appears first in

the philosophy of Pythagoras.  His followers Philolaos, Callicratides, and

others adopted the word, as did the philosophic poets Xenophanes,

Parmenides and Empedocles.  From them it passed to the natural

philosophers, with whom it became a current word.  The Stoics used it for

the anima mundi or the soul of the world.  With regard to extent it had

several senses: (1) the earth, (2) the firmament, (3) the region in which

the stars are fixed or apparently move; in the Alexandrian Greek, the

known world'.