io6 GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 



them the authority beforehand, or confirms their acts 

 by subsequent approval, the principle is essentially 

 the same. He delegates to them certain disciplinary 

 powers, but he does not delegate, and has not the 

 power to delegate, his prerogative of defining dogma, 

 and enforcing its belief on the whole Catholic world. 



I should not have dwelt at so much length on this 

 particular point had it not been urged, with what I 

 fear I must call much perverted ingenuity, by Mr. 

 Roberts that the Copernican theory was condemned 

 ex cathedrd, as if it were a heresy, by the Pope him- 

 self ; nor, again, is it willingly that I quote so fre- 

 quently the same author's arguments with a view to 

 their refutation. He has, however, stated the anti- 

 Eoman case with ability, and without descending to 

 vulgar claptrap. If, then, his arguments are satis- 

 factorily answered, there is no need of combating 

 other antagonists. 



But I do not at all shrink from considering another 

 and most important question. I have shown clearly 

 and conclusively that the decrees against Coperni- 

 canism were not definitions of faith ; but I am bound 

 to state now what I believe to have been the effect of 

 them in their own undoubted sphere, that of eccle- 

 siastical discipline. And here there are two distinct 

 questions to deal with, which are perhaps sometimes 

 mixed up together, but which ought to be kept 

 separate. 



One is this : What should have been the conduct 

 of contemporary Catholics, supposed to be scientific 



