206 Traxsactwns of the Amektcan Institute. 



tation, and, perhaps, have destroyed his life. Yet not wholly beyond 

 their reach. Even death could not be trusted to shield him. There 

 seems to have been fear of vengeance upon his corpse ; for on his 

 tombstone was placed no record of his life-long labors, no mention 

 of his great discovery. There were graven upon it affecting words, 

 which may be thus simply translated : " I ask not the grace accord- 

 ing to Paul ; not that given to Peter. Give me only the favor which 

 TIjou didst show to the thief on the cross." Not till thirty years 

 after did a friend dare write on his tombstone a memorial of his 

 discovery. The book was taken in hand at once by the proper authori- 

 ties. It was solemnly condemned ; to read it was to risk salvation, 

 and the world accepted the decree. Many minds had received this 

 new truth ; only one tongue dared utter it. The new warrior was 

 that strange mortal, Jordano Bruno. He was hunted from land to 

 land, until at last he turns on his pursuers and writes fearful satires 

 on the church. For this he is imprisoned six years, then burned 

 alive, and then his aslies are scattered to the winds. 



Put the new truth lived. It would not be stifled. "Within ten 

 years after the execution of Bruno the truth of the doctrine of Koper- 

 nik was established by the telescope of Galileo. Herein was ful- 

 filled one of the most touching of prophecies. Years before, the 

 enemies of Kopernik had said to him, " If your doctrine were true, 

 Venus would show phases like the moon." Kopernik answered, 

 "You are right; I know not w^hat to say, but God is good, and 

 will in time find an answer to this objection." The God-given 

 answer came when the rude telescope of Galileo showed the phases 

 of Venus. On this new champion, Galileo, the attack was tremend- 

 ous. The supporters of what was called "sound learning" declared 

 his discoveries deceptions and his announcements blasphemy. Semi- 

 scientific professors attacked him with sham science ; earnest preachers 

 attacked him with perverted Scripture. 



Atheist and Infidel. 

 The principal weapons in the combat are worth examining. They are 

 very easily examined ; you may pick them up on any of the battle- 

 fields of science, but on that field they were used with more effect than 

 on almost any other. These weapons were two epithets — the epithets 

 " Infidel " and " Atheist." These can liardly be classed with civil- 

 ized weapons ; they are burning arrows ; they set fire to great masses 

 of popular prejudices. Smoke rises to obscure the real questions. 



