Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-03-07
LETTER TO EDITOR

10 the Editor at the Ef'fsitng GGIlitdi.
Last Sunday | attended divine serY-
Ice iii the forenoon at one Of our local
churches was very much pleased TO
hear the officiating clergyman make
the statement that the Creator did not
make either q perfect physical or
spiritual world but endowed them with
certain potentialitEes which would en-
able them to work on gradually to-
wards perfecsibility This lis excellent
revolutionary doctrine While Herbert
Spencer, the great master pf the de-
veIopment theory, did not make this
assertion III so many words, it con
Itains the sum and substance OF the
whole Import OF the philosophy of cyo
luton. ii Is certainly very encourag
ing, ait a time when nearly all de-
nominations are pleading for world
unity in religion. TO hear from the pull
lpit Of d church, which formerly stood
out as the leading antagonist Of scien
Etiiic thought. such liberal sentiment
as that mentioned above. H argues
well for the future uniilcation of all.
the intellectual forces of society Nn the
interest of the rehabilitation 81 our
religious activities. When science and
religion can meet each other on d
common ground, We shall witness. and
not till then. the rehabilitation Of our
spiritual life, and such as the world
has never known before.
one Of the saddest things to con-
template Is the continued antagonism,
which, from the very beginning, 80 far
tas can be gathered fro mthe records
ef history. has existed between relig-
ionists and the protagonists OF the
freedom OF thought Socrates. ac-
cnsed by his enemies Of having intro
duced, against the laws Of the Greek
state. a new god this damon koinosl.
was condemned By the Areojagos to-
drink the fatal hemlock. although his
moral convictions and teachings APP
preached more nearly To those Of
Christ than any man that has ever
lived. Jesus Christ. after mock trial.
/ iii which he was charged with teach
Ing heresy, suffered the agonies Of
Icrucifixion Both showed their divine
mission by the way they died AS
Wirt's blind preacher said: Socrates
died like philosopher, but Jesus
Christ died like god.
And so. as we come along down the
ages, we pick up case after case Of
the worlds Intellectual giants, who
have suffered martyrdom iii some form
for their beliefs. In the fifth century
of our era We find Hepatia, one az the
greatest women OF all time, brutally
murdered by fanatical mob in one
fof the Christian churches of Alex
andria. the act being countenanced, i
not actually instigated, by Cyril, the
Patriarch Huss. because he adopted
/ the religious principles Of Wyckliffe
and sought to propagate them was
burned at the stake Because he re-
fused Ia retract his belief CopeTni-
Gus, u canon of tile church and b very
reverent man. throwing aside the
Ptlomaic system of astronomy and
adopting the Pythagorean. which place.
ed the sun IN the middle Of the solar
system and taught that the earth and
fother planets reyolyed around it, was
lexcommunicated BY the very Pope to
whom he dedicated his work on the
llnotions OF the heavenly bodies. Gior-
dano Bruno, at d very early age, join
Lea the order Of the Dominicalis, but
| lie soon grew weary of discipline,
Iunsuited To his fiery. restless tenapera-
Iment, threw himself headlong into the
Renaissance spirit and determined to
| test for himself the new thought which
was reyolutionizing mems views. He
eagerly accepted the CoperHican
Theory and turned all his great eaer-
gies towards expounding it Persecn-
tion at once began and he was hound
cd from place 10 place all over Eu-
rope He finally accepted an invita-
ton ID Venice. The ernissarfes of the
lInQuisition were on his tracks. He
was arrested and imprisoned and re-
NAMED in confinement for seven.
years. He was then accommodated;
and, still being unwilling to recant
he was burned at the stake Latimer
EAlQ4eS$S G1NAk1ltASA aAAsA NS1ANAS Nk1A 4tA15 Y
land suffered like fate, being the VIC
Tins Oh Bloody Mary'g religious zeal
One other great man Of science de-
serves mention Id this connection
Calico, To whom astronomy owes
many valuable discoveries vas IN
other victim or ecclesiastical persecu-
don He was. al nrst, treated with
great consideration al over Italy; but
when he Published his work on the
sun spots, wherein he advocated the
lCopernican system. he vas denounced
as hereto This new system was
contrary 10 the teachings Of the
church. Joshua had commanded the
sun 10 stand still Conseagae ntly II
must move around the earth and not
the reverse. When later Calico pub
lished, with the permission of Urban
VIII. work containing even naOre'
radical views he waa summoned t0
Rome, accused of sakiElxlng TIE Pope
md tried 81 the .KxoIy Cflice. he