"grace 1600, by the triumphant beast' the Church "of Rome, this philosopher, this great and splendid "man, was burned" (Vol. III, pp. 349-52).

"The murder of this man will never be completely "and perfectly avenged until from Rome shall be "swept every vestige of priest and pope, until over "the shapeless ruin of St. Peter's the crumbled "Vatican and the fallen cross shall rise a monument "to Bruno-the thinker, philosopher, philanthropist, "atheist, martyr" (Ibid., p. 353).

"A few years ago a few men began to think, to "investigate, to reason. They began to doubt the "legends of the Church, the miracles of the past. "They began to notice what happened. They found "that eclipses came at certain intervals, and that their coming could be foretold. They became satisfied "that the conduct of men had nothing to do with "eclipses, and that the stars moved in their orbits "unconscious of the suns of men. Galileo, Coper"nicus, and Kepler destroyed the astronomy of the Bible, and demonstrated that the 'inspired' story "of creation could not be true, and that the Church. "was as ignorant as the priests were dishonest.

"They found that the myth-makers were mistaken, "that the sun and stars did not revolve about the "earth, that the firmament was not solid, that the "earth was not flat, and that the so-called philosophy "of the theologians was absurd and idiotic.

"The stars became witnesses against the creeds of "superstition.

"With the telescope the heavens were explored. "The New Jerusalem could not be found.

"It had faded away.

"The Church persecuted the astronomers and "denied the facts. In February, in the year of grace

"sixteen hundred, the Catholic Church, the 'Trium"'phant Beast,' having in her hands, her paws, the "keys of heaven and hell, accused Giordano Bruno "of having declared that there were other worlds "than this. He was tried, convicted, and imprisoned "in a dungeon for seven years. He was offered his "liberty if he would recant. Bruno, the atheist, the "philosopher, refused to stain his soul by denying "what he believed to be true. He was taken from "his cell by the priests, by those who loved their "enemies, and led to the place of execution. He was "clad in a robe on which representations of devils "had been painted-the devils that were soon to "claim his soul. He was chained to a stake, and "about his body the wood was piled. Then priests, "followers of Christ, lighted the fagots, and flames "consumed the greatest, the most perfect martyr "that ever suffered death.

"And yet the Italian agent of God, the infallible "Leo XIII, only a few years ago denounced Bruno, "the bravest of the brave,' as a coward.

"The Church murdered him, and the Pope maligned "his memory. Fagot and falsehood-two weapons of "the Church" (Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 456-58).

THE STORY OF GALILEO

SHORTLY after the murder of Giordano Bruno the Church of Rome began to persecute the great Italian scientist, Galileo Golilei. In this case we have a "divinely inspired" Church bitterly opposing a plain truth in regard to nature, and forcing an aged astronomer to belie the truth and utter to the world what he knew to be a falsehood. The story may best be told by a series of extracts from that standard work, Professor Andrew D. White's Warfare of Science with Theology (1900) :

"Doubtless many will exclaim against the Roman "Catholic Church for this; but the simple truth is "that Protestantism was no less zealous against the "new scientific doctrine. All branches of the Pro"testant Church-Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican"vied with each other in denouncing the Copernican "doctrine as contrary to Scripture, and at a later "period the Puritans showed the same tendency.

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"Said Martin Luther: People gave ear to an "'upstart astrologer who strove to show that the "'earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, "the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear ""clever must devise some new system, which of all 'systems is, of course, the very best. This fool ""wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; ""but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded "the sun to stand still, and not the earth' (Vol. I, "p. 126).

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"Calvin took the lead, in his Commentary on

Genesis, by condemning all who asserted that the "earth is not at the centre of the universe. He "clinched the matter by the usual reference to the "first verse of the ninety-third Psalm, and asked: "Who will venture to place the authority of Coper""nicus above that of the Holy Spirit?'" (Vol. I, p. 127).

"Dr. Samuel Pike's Sacred Philosophy, the writings "of Horne, Bishop Horsley, and President Forbes "contain most earnest attacks upon the ideas of Newton, such attacks being based upon Scripture. "Dr. John Owen, so famous in the annals of Puritanism, declared the Copernican system a 'delusive "and arbitrary hypothesis, contrary to Scripture'; "and even John Wesley declared the new ideas to "❝tend towards infidelity"" (Vol. I, pp. 127–28).

"To clinch anti-scientific ideas more firmly into "German Protestant teaching, Rector Hensel wrote "a text-book for schools entitled The Restored Mosaic System of the World, which showed the Copernican "astronomy to be unscriptural" (Vol. I, p. 129).

"The first important attack on Galileo began in "1610, when he announced that his telescope had "revealed the moons of the planet Jupiter. The "enemy saw that this took the Copernican theory "out of the realm of hypothesis, and they gave battle "immediately. They denounced both his methods "and its results as absurd and impious. As to his "method, professors bred in the safe science' "favoured by the Church argued that the divinely "appointed way of arriving at the truth in astronomy "was by theological reasoning on texts of Scripture ; "and, as to his results, they insisted, first that Aristotle "knew nothing of these new revelations, and next that "the Bible showed by all applicable types that there

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"could be only seven planets; that this was proved "by the seven golden candlesticks of the Apocalypse, "by the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle, "and by the seven churches of Asia; that from "Galileo's doctrine consequences must logically "result destructive to Christian truth. Bishops and "priests, therefore, warned their flocks, and multi"tudes of the faithful besought the Inquisition to "deal speedily and sharply with the heretic" (Vol. I, p. 131).

"Still another struggle was aroused when the hated "telescope revealed spots upon the sun, and their "motion indicating the sun's rotation. Monsignor "Elci, head of the University of Pisa, forbade the "astronomer Castelli to mention these spots to his "students. Father Busæus, at the University of "Innspruck, forbade the astronomer Scheiner, who "had also discovered the spots and proposed a safe explanation of them, to allow the new discovery to “be known there" (Vol. I, p. 133).

"Father Lorini proved that Galileo's doctrine was "not only heretical, but 'atheistic,' and besought the "Inquisition to intervene. The Bishop of Fiesole "screamed in rage against the Copernican system, "publicly insulted Galileo, and denounced him to the "Grand-Duke. The Archbishop of Pisa secretly "sought to entrap Galileo and deliver him to the Inquisition at Rome. The Archbishop of Florence solemnly condemned the new doctrines as unscrip"tural; and Paul V, while petting Galileo and “inviting him, as the greatest astronomer of the "world, to visit Rome, was secretly moving the Archbishop of Pisa to pick up evidence against "the astronomer.

"But by far the most terrible champion who now