The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-02-01
The Case of Galilei

| FAMILIAR WIFI lue story OF his lie. Ii
was not the first inventor of the tele
scope, but he was without doubt tn,
first intelligent user of it, He focused
his eyes upon the heavens and began
emily bodies. He went on In his inVes
legations until at last he found GU
that the earth moved around the sun
absurd! Absurdr cried the ChurcI
Of Rome. "fhe earth does not move
about the sun; the sun moves around
the earth. Does not the Bible tell us
that Joshua halted the sun above Gid
con and the moon in the valley OF
AiaIon? Away with the hereto! Away
away!" Then the so called literalis
priests placed the heavy hand of the
law upon Galilei and would have tor
tured him to death had he not signed
this humiliating recantation: with 6
sincere heart and unfeigned faith
allure. curse and detest the said err
rors and heresies (viz, that the earth
moves. etc.). swear that | will never
in the future say or assert anything
verbally or in writing which may give
rise to a similar suspicion against me-
I, Galilei, have abjured as above with
my own hand"
Now, was there ever such unmitigat-
ed nonsense as that act of the church
1t was the setting up of claim that
a book written to teach morality and
| oh hn n aI1thnritV sol
ence also. 1t was as If one should in
sist on taking an incidental reference
of a physician on a question of music
as an authority superior to the dictum
of a musician. The Bible writer's, in
tent on teaching men how to live IN
this world so as to be happy in the
next, learned in the things of God, but
unlearned in the crude science Of their
times, accepted the ideas current at
the period and passed on to their ap-
pointed topic But Galilei was declar-
ed a hereto on such testimony and
saved his life only by recantation. Let
us be careful lest we demand of the Bible
more than it was ever intended to teach.
More Bl9oted SeuPlolly'
The same bgoted stupidity of the
medieval church we can find in the
church of the eighteenth and nine
teenth centuries. The scientists went
on in their Investigations, and they
proved that this old planet was not
created 5000 or 5000 years ago. 1t
has been developing during thousands
upon thousands and hundreds of thou
sands of years. The Bible, by the way,
does not fix a date for the creation.
1t merely says I'm the beginning"
CThe dates ON the margin are those of
Archbishop USHER, who lived in the
sixteenth century A. d. The geolo-
gists went on in their Investigations
and found eras and epochs and ages,
perhaps a million years apart Not
only did science prove the immense
age of the earth, but that the develop
ment Was a slow process of ages. They
brought these facts to the church and
said, Come and see and study" The
church threw up its hands in horror.
"What will become of our Bibles If
you prove those statements trueW they
exclaimed. Does not the Bible de-
clare that God made the earth and the
heavens in six days? No more and
no less" But" said the scientific the
ologians, perhaps the day of Gods
creation meant an era, not a day of
twenty-four hours" "Absurdv' cried
the church. Absurd! A day means a
day of twenty-four hours and nothing
else" So the church fought the in
vestigations of science. They fought
them on and fought them on The
theologians said to the church mem
bers, IF you believe this heresy you
are not a Christian" The result was
the church continued to read the first
chapter of Genesis as literal history
until it made itself absolutely ridicu-
lous. They overlooked the essential
fact that the day of the creation is
not day of twenty four hours. zone
day is with the Lord as thousand
years and a thousand years as one
day" Oh Peter iii, 81.
Now, there is the same disposition to-
day as there was in the medieval
church and in the church of the nine
tenth century. Some church members
today are trying to stir up internal
strife by reading the letter of the Bible
instead of the spirit of the Bible. They
are trying to take certain Bible pas
sages and twist them out of all SEM
blance Of their true meaning. They do
this with the assumed air of great
spiritual erudition and gospel sanctity
When they quote these passages, they
look at us in a very condescending
way, as much as to say: "Have you not
forgotten such and such a passage?
Do you not wish you knew as much
about the Bible as l do?"
The Spirit of the Bible.
We should read the spirit of the BIZ
BILE. More than that, we should never
try to solve the unsolvable mysteries
Of God and his work, which can never
be solved this side of the grave. Now,
1t Is a wise man who is willing to rec
ognlze the fact that there are certain
to his mental and spiritual
faculties. 1t is q wise man who Is
willing to confess that there are GER
tain things he does not know and new
er will be able to know this side of
heaven. When you and come to that
glorious condition Of mind and soul,
we shall open our minds and hearts to
the full enjoyment Of the gospel life. |
And, my brother, l never want you to
of ha OR 90 ohar.
unless he is first willing to confess that |
in his gospel investigations there are
certain mysteries SO high that he can
never scale them, so deep that he can
never fathom them, so wide that he
can never cross them.
We come to our pastors and friends |
and ask jus. the same kind of foolish |