iculed by the clergy, and these scientists were
forced to bring their findings before the world in the face of the well
known methods of ecclesiastical opposition.

At a very early period in the evolution of civilization men began to ask
questions regarding language, and the answers to these questions were
naturally embodied in the myths, legends, and chronicles of their sacred
books. Language was considered God-given and complete. The diversity of
language was firmly held to be explained by the story of the Tower of
Babel; and since the writers of the Bible were merely pens in the hand
of God the conclusion was reached that not only the sense, but the
words, letters, and even the punctuation proceeded from the Holy Spirit.

At the end of the seventeenth century, the ecclesiastical contention
that the Hebrew punctuation was divinely inspired seemed to be generally
disproven. The great orthodox body of "religiosa dementia" fell back
upon the remainder of the theory that the Hebrew language was the first
of all languages which was spoken by the Almighty, given by Him to Adam,
transmitted through Noah to the world after the deluge, and that the
confusion of tongues was the origin of all other tongues.

It has only been in comparatively recent time, and in spite of the
opposition of the clergy, that language has been accepted as the result
of evolutionary processes in obedience to laws more or less clearly
ascertained. Babel thus takes its place quietly among the other myths of
the Bible.

In a purely civil matter, the infallible Church from its inception had
displayed a marked hostility to loans at interest. From the earliest
period the whole weight of the Church was brought to bear against the
taking of interest for money. Pope Leo the Great solemnly adjudged it a
sin worthy of severe punishment. In the thirteenth century, Pope Gregory
IX dealt an especially severe blow at commerce by his declaration that
even to advance on interest the money necessary in maritime trade was
damnable usury. The whole evolution of European civilization was greatly
hindered by this policy.

RELIGION AND EVOLUTION

Darwinism, which at first was declared by the clergy to be brutal,
degrading, atheistic, and anti-Christian, is now included as part of the
Bible teaching.

In a similar manner, the Copernican theory, the theory of gravitation,
the nebular hypothesis, the theory of uniformity in geology, and every
scientific advance has b