in
His infinite bounty sends fuller light from another quarter, and the torch
of inspiration burns brighter than before from a new torchholder, instead
of welcoming the new lights they are angry and alarmed. This new light
does not correspond with their definitions. It has not the orthodox color,
and does not shine from the orthodox place, therefore it must at all costs
be extinguished lest it lead men astray into the paths of heresy! Many
enemies of the Prophets are of this type--blind leaders of the blind, who
oppose new and fuller truth in the supposed interests of what they believe
to be the truth. Others are of baser sort and are moved by selfish
interests to fight against truth, or else block the path of progress by
reason of spiritual deadness and inertia.

Persecution of Prophets

The great Prophets of religion have always been, at Their coming, despised
and rejected of men. Both They and Their early followers have given their
backs to the smiters and sacrificed their possessions and their lives in
the path of God. Even in our own times this has been so. Since 1844 A.D.,
many thousands of Babis and Baha'is in Persia have suffered cruel deaths
for their faith, and many more have borne imprisonment, exile, poverty and
degradation. The latest of the great religions has been "baptized in
blood" more than its predecessors, and martyrdoms have continued down to
the present day. With the prophets of science the same thing has happened.
Giordano Bruno was burned as a heretic in 1600 A.D. for teaching, amongst
other things, that the earth moved around the sun. A few years later the
veteran philosopher Galileo had to abjure the same doctrine on his knees
in order to escape a similar fate. In later times, Darwin and the pioneers
of modern geology were vehemently denounced for daring to dispute the
teaching of Holy Write that the world was made in six days, and less than
six thousand years ago! The opposition to new scientific truth has not all
come from the Church, however. The orthodox in science have been just as
hostile to progress as the orthodox in religion. Columbus was laughed to
scorn by the so-called scientists of his day, who proved to their own
satisfaction that if ships did succeed in getting down to the Antipodes
over the side of the globe, it would be absolutely impossible for them to
get up again! Galvani, the pioneer of electrical science, was scoffed at
by his learned colleagues, and called the "fr