TYNDALUS REPLY TO HIS CRITICS. 433 



and the fifth by that of his two perfect natures, and the thirteenth by 

 that of the procession of the Holy Ghost, so the nineteenth will be 

 glorious by the definition of the Immaculate Conception. Right Rev. 

 Fathers," continues this heated proselyte, " you have to call the legion- 

 aries and the tribunes, the patricians and the people, of a conquering 

 race, and to subdue, change, and transform them one by one to the 

 likeness of the Son of God. Surely a soldier's eye and a soldier's 

 heart would choose by intuition this field of England for the warfare 

 of the faith. It is the head of Protestantism, the centre of its move- 

 ments, and the stronghold of its powers. Weakened in England, 

 it is paralyzed everywhere ; conquered in England, it is conquered 

 throughout the world. Once overthrown here, all is but a war of de- 

 tail : it is the key of the whole position of modern error." This is 

 the propaganda which England has to stem. What mere stubble a 

 dilettante ritualist or a weak-headed nobleman must be when acted 

 upon by this fiery breath of fanaticism ! The only wonder is that 

 weak heads, which are so assiduously and deliberately sought out, 

 are not more plentiful than they are. 



Monsignor Capel has recently been good enough to proclaim at 

 once the friendliness of his Church toward true science, and her right 

 to determine what ti'ue science is. Let us dwell for a moment on the 

 historic proofs of her scientific competence. When Halley's comet 

 appeared in 1456, it was regarded as the harbinger of God's ven- 

 geance, the dispenser of war, pestilence, and famine, and, by order of 

 the pope, all the church-bells in Europe were' rung to scare the mon- 

 ster away. An additional daily prayer was added to the supplica- 

 tions of the faithful. The comet in due time disappeared, and the 

 faithful were comforted by the assurance that, as in previous instances 

 relating to eclipses, droughts, and rains, so also as regards this " nefa- 

 rious " comet, victory had been vouchsafed to the Church. 



Both Pythagoras and Copernicus had taught the heliocentric doc- 

 trine that the earth revolved round the sun. In the exercise of her 

 right to determine what true science is, the Church, in the pontificate 

 of Paul V., stepped in, and, by the mouth of the holy Congregation 

 of the Index, delivered, on March 5, 1616, the following decree: 



And whereas it hath also come to the knowledge of the said holy 

 congregation that the false Pythagorean doctrine of the mobility of 

 the earth and the immobility of the sum, entirely opposed to Holy 

 Writ, which is taught by Nicolas Copernicus, is now published abroad 

 and received by many in order that this opinion may not further 

 spread, to the damage of Catholic truth, it is ordered that this and all 

 other books teaching the like doctrine be suspended, and by this decree 

 they are all respectively suspended, forbidden, and condemned. 



Though often quoted, I thought the never-dying flavor of this cele- 

 brated decree would not be disagreeable to some of my readers. It 

 is pleasant to be able to say that the very doctrine here pronounced 

 vol. vi. 28 



