GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 167 



it brings us back to the same point. The result in 

 nature remains the same, and that result is written in 

 characters that cannot be ignored. Mathematicians 

 have occupied themselves in making suppositions as 

 to the effects of imaginary laws of gravity, some of 

 which might, no doubt, ensure sufficient order and 

 regularity to maintain this world, and the countless 

 worlds that people space, while others would cause 

 hopeless confusion. The striking thing is that the 

 existing law perfectly answers its purpose. 



Only let us imagine that no law of attraction acted 

 upon matter at all, nor any force of whatever kind 

 what would be the result ? There would be no 

 coherence, no abode for human or animal life 

 nothing but chaos and anarchy. 



If, then, we contrast this imagined picture with the 

 one actually before us, we are, I think, forcibly led 

 to the conclusion that the physical universe owes its 

 origin, its existence, its harmony to an Omnipotent 

 Being, unseen, yet not unknown, intangible to the 

 senses, ever present to the intelligence. 



And now, in order to avoid misapprehension, I 

 venture to restate briefly the propositions I have 

 sought to establish. 



I have maintained that the Catholic Church has a 

 right to lay her restraining hand on the speculations 

 of Natural Science, just as much as she has in the 

 case of other speculative inquiries. Those who do 

 not believe in her prerogatives will, of course, deny 



