When I think, O Lord, that all being is in Thee, Thou exhaustest and swallowest up, O Abyss of Truth, all my thoughts.  I know not what becomes of me.  Whatever is not Thou disappears; and scarce so much of myself remains wherewithal to find myself again.  Who sees Thee not never saw anything; and who is not sensible of Thee, never was sensible of anything.  He is as if he were not.  His whole life is but a dream.  Arise, O Lord, arise, Let Thy enemies melt like wax and vanish like smoke before Thy face.  How unhappy is the impious soul who, far from Thee, is without God, without hope, without eternal comfort!  How happy he who searches, sighs, and thirsts after Thee.  But fully happy he on whom are reflected the beams of Thy countenance, whose tears Thy hand has wiped off, and whose desires Thy love has already completed.

When will that time be, O 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