Geoscience Reference
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volumes in 1681 and 1689 as Telluris Theoria Sacra. Volume one
contained two 'books' that dealt with the Deluge and Paradise,
while the second also comprised two 'books' that were concerned
with the conflagration and the emergence of a new Earth. He was
encouraged to produce an English language translation, which duly
appeared in two volumes in 1684 and 1689.
Burnet was born in the small village of Croft in Yorkshire and
educated at the Free School, Northallerton, and Clare College,
Cambridge. He later transferred to Christ's College and obtained a
Fellowship in 1657. He was appointed Senior Proctor at Cambridge
in 1661 and later served as tutor to the Duke of Bolton and the Duke of
Ormond, James Butler, the premier Duke in Ireland. As is clear, he
moved in high circles and appeared to be destined for a higher calling
in the church: he was well connected in that his former college tutor
was Archbishop Tillotson. Whatever ambitions he may have har-
boured, his chances of promotion were scuttled when he published a
volume entitled Archaeologia philosophicae: sive doctrina antiqua
de rerum originibus in 1692. He aroused very antagonistic views
among fellow members of the Court and the Church because he
treated the biblical account of Adam's sin and the fall of man as a
fable. He was removed by King William from his position at court as
Clerk of the Closet, and returned to Charterhouse College where he
was Master. Burnet continued to publish but his later works did not
attract as much attention as his earlier writings. He died in Cambridge
on 27 September 1715.
While Burnet was influenced by the ideas of Descartes, he
attempted to reconcile his theory with the biblical texts. The frontis-
piece to both the Latin and English editions, reproduced here as
Figure
3.2
, encapsulates his ideas regarding the Earth's evolutionary
history. It shows a number of spheres that appear to be floating in
space surrounded by angelic cherubs. Standing above the globes is a
typically Renaissance representation of Christ, holding a flag in his
right hand, and over him are the words in Greek 'I am the Alpha and
the Omega'. The seven globes each represent a stage in the evolution
