166 GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 



may be said this is no very great matter, but I 

 mention it as illustrating the breadth of mind of this 

 great saint and theologian, who could spare time for 

 a study of physical science without neglecting the 

 more solemn duties of his calling. His active mind 

 was alive to every source from whence wisdom and 

 learning could be imbibed ; and if he had lived in 

 the age of Galileo, I have sometimes fancied that 

 he would have thrown some oil on the troubled 

 waters, would have counselled prudence to the ad- 

 venturous astronomer, patience and forbearance to his 

 antagonists. But it is of no avail to indulge in 

 speculations such as these. Each age of the world 

 has its difficulties, moral and intellectual, and we 

 can neither hurry the stream of human thought 

 onwards nor drive it backwards. 



So again it is with the dispositions of individuals ; 

 if Galileo had been gifted with the calm, dignified 

 reserve of Newton, instead of being the vivacious, 

 loquacious Italian that he in fact was, he might have 

 lived and died in peace. 



And now, if I may be permitted to recur once more 

 to the subject of gravitation, I have a word to say as 

 to the lesson which this great all-pervading law seems 

 to teach. It has nothing to do with any question of 

 revealed Eeligion ; but does it not bear the un- 

 mistakable signs of the action of an all-wise, an 

 all-powerful Creator ? It may possibly be the result 

 of some other, though unknown, law ; and even then 



