The St. Johns herald., 1889-12-05
The Murder of GiOrdanO Bruno.

lasted for q thousand years. 1h' first star that enriched the horizon of this universal gloom was Gior dano Bruno. He was the herald O the dawn.
 He was born in 1850, was edu cated for a priest, became Domi nician friar. At last his reason re voted against the doctrine of tran substantation. He could not be. lieve that the entire trinity was in a wafer, or in a swallow of wine He could not believe that a man could devour the creator of the uni verse by eating a piece of bread. This led him to investigate other dogmas of the Catholic church, and in every direction he found the same contradictions and impossibilities supported, not by reason, but by faith.
 Those who love their enemies threatened his life. He was obliged to fee from his native land, and he became Q vagabond in nearly every nation of Europe. He declared that he fought not what priests believed: but what they pretended to believe. He was driven from his native coun- try because of his astronomical opinions. He had lost confidence in the Bible as a scientific work. lie was in danger because he had dis covered truth.
 He fled to England. He gave some lectures at Oxford. He found that institution controlled by the priests. He found that they were teaching nothing of importance only the impossible and hurtful. He called Oxford "the widow of true learning" There were in Eng land at that time two men who knew more than the rest of the world. Shakespeare was tken alive.
 Bruno was driven from England. He was regarded as a dangerous man-he had opinions, he inquired after reasons, lie expressed conf- dence in facts. He fled to France. He was not allowed to remaln in that country. He discussed things that was enough. The church said, "move on." He went to Ger many. He was not believer-he was an investigator. The Germans wanted believers they regarded the whole Christian system as settled they wanted witnesses they wanted men who would assert. So he was driven from Germany.
 He returned at last to his native land. He found himself without friends, because he had been true, not only to himself, but to the hu- man race. But the world was false to him because he refused to cruelty the Christ of his own soul between the two thieves of hypocrisy and bigotry, He was arrested for teach ing that there were other worlds than this; that many of the stars and suns around which other worlds revolve; that nature d:d not ex- haust all her energies on this grain of sand called the earth. He be- lieved in a plurality of worlds, in the rotation of this, in the helio- centric theory. For these crimes, and for these alone, he was impris- oned TOT SIX years. t1e was Kept III solitary confinement. He was. d. lowed no books, no friends, no yisi- tors. He was denied pen and pa per. In the darkness, in the lone Illness, he had time to examine the great questions of origin, of exis- tence, of destiny. He put to the test what is called the goodness of God. He found that he could neith- CT depend upon man nor upon any deity. At last the Inquisition de- manded him. He was tried, con- demned, communicated, and sen fenced to be burnt.
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