GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 113 



stitute; but I do not understand a Christian's doing so, 

 that is, a Christian in the strict and legitimate sense 

 of the word. Pursue science by all means, as you 

 pursue literature, art, or any other innocent human 

 study, but do not make it such an idol as to obscure 

 your perception of spiritual truths. 



And to take the Copernican theory in particular : 

 profoundly interesting as it is, let us ask ourselves 

 not merely whether it is so important as to require 

 that all religious considerations should give way 

 before it, but whether the knowledge of its truth, 

 which we now possess, adds very materially to the 

 sum total of human happiness. Let us then, for a 

 moment, think how many men among the millions 

 that people this Earth, or if we please to limit our 

 inquiry, how many among the civilised nations of 

 the Earth understand anything whatever about the 

 motions of the heavenly bodies. No doubt, in 

 England, and probably many other countries, the 

 elementary books that are taught to children state 

 in a rough general way that the Earth, like other 

 planets, goes round the Sun in the space of one year, 

 and revolves on its axis in twenty-four hours. So 

 far, so good. Suppose you asked those, who as 

 children have learned these facts, a few ordinary 

 questions in astronomy I do not mean things re- 

 lating to celestial distances, or anything that can be 

 learnt by heart, but questions requiring thought 

 how many would be able to answer you ? How 

 many, for example, could explain such a familiar 



