th was a
globe; mentioned the obvious fact that in sailing westward Columbus did
not sail his ship over the edge of the earth into Hell, as had been
prophesied he would.

He also explained that the red sky at sunset was not caused by the
reflections from Hell, nor was the sun moved behind a mountain by giant
angels at night. Copernicus was a Catholic, as all teachers were, but he
had been deceived by the esoteric and the exoteric, and had really
thought that the priests and so-called educated men actually desired,
for themselves, to know the truth.

At Padua he had learned to read Greek, and had become more or less
familiar with Pythagoras, Hipparchus, Aristotle and Plato. He quoted
these authors and showed how in some ways they were beyond the present.
This was all done in the exuberance of youth, with never a doubt as to
the value and the beauty of the Church. But he was thinking more of
truth than of the Church, and when a cardinal from the Vatican came to
him, and in all kindness cautioned him, and in love explained it was all
right for a man to believe what he wished, but to teach others things
that were not authorized was a mistake.

Copernicus was abashed and depressed.

He saw then that his lectures had really been for himself--he was
endeavoring to make things plain to Copernicus, and the welfare of the
Church had been forgotten.

He ceased lecturing for a time, but private pupils came to him, and
among them astrologers in disguise, and these went away and told
broadcast that Copernicus was teaching that the movements of the stars
were not caused by angels, and that "God was being dethroned by a
tape-measure and a yardstick." Alchemy had a strong hold upon the
popular mind, and these alchemists and astrologers were fortune-tellers
and derived a goodly income from the people.

They had their stands in front of all churches and turned in a goodly
tithe "for the benefit of the poor."

When the astrologers attacked Copernicus he tried to explain that the
heavens were under the reign of natural law, and that so far as he knew
there was no direct relationship between the stars and the men upon
earth. The answer was, "You yourself foretell the eclipse, and assume to
know when a star will be in a certain place a hundred years in advance;
now, if you can prophesy about stars, why can't we foretell a man's
future?"

Copernicus proudly declined to answer such ignorance, but went on to say
that alchemy was a vio