Lord? O fair day, without either cloud or end,
of which Thyself shalt be the sun, and wherein Thou shalt run through my
soul like a torrent of delight! Upon this pleasing hope I cry out: "Who
is like Thee, O Lord? My heart melts and my flesh faints, O God of my
soul, and my eternal wealth."

* * * * *

GALILEO

THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

Galileo's treatise on "The Authority of Scripture in
Philosophical Controversies" was written at a time when the
Copernican theory of the constitution of the universe was
engaging the attention of the world. A Benedictine monk,
Benedetto Castelli, called upon to defend the theory at the
grand-ducal table of Tuscany, asked Galileo's assistance in
reconciling it with orthodoxy. His answer was an exposition of
a formal theory as to the relations of physical science to
Holy Writ. This answer was further amplified in the "Authority
of the Scripture," addressed in 1614 to Christina of Lorraine,
Dowager Grand-Duchess of Tuscany, an able and acute defence of
his position. A year later another monk laid Galileo's letter
to Castelli before the Inquisition, whereupon the philosopher
was summoned by Pope Paul V. to the palace of Cardinal
Bellarmine, and there warned against henceforth holding,
teaching, or defending the condemned doctrine. Nevertheless,
in a few years Galileo (see SCIENCE, vol. XV) had to suffer
trial and condemnation by the Inquisition for publishing his
"Dialogues on the System of the World," which gave the
Ptolemaic theory its death-blow.

_I.--THE DEFENDERS OF FALLACY_

Some years ago I discovered many astronomical facts till then unknown.
Their novelty and their antagonism to some physical propositions
commonly received by the schools did stir up against me many who
professed the vulgar philosophy, as if, forsooth, I had with my own hand
placed these things in the heavens to obscure and disturb nature and
science. These opponents, more affectionate to their own opinion than to
truth, tried to deny and disprove my discoveries, which they might have
discerned with their own eyes; and they published vain discourses,
interwoven with irrelevant passages, not rightly understood, of the
sacred Scriptures. From this folly they might have been saved had they
remembered the advice of St. Augustine, who, dealing with celestial
bodies, w