In
England we see similar theological efforts, even after they had
become evidently futile. Hutchinson's _Moses's Principia_, Dr. Samuel
Pike's _Sacred Philosophy_, the writings of Horne, Bishop Horsley,
and President Forbes contain most earnest attacks upon the ideas of
Newton, such attacks being based upon Scripture. Dr. John Owen, so
famous in the annals of Puritanism, declared the Copernican system
a "delusive and arbitrary hypothesis, contrary to Scripture"; and even
John Wesley declared the new ideas to "tend toward infidelity."[128]
And Protestant peoples were not a whit behind Catholic in following
out such teachings. The people of Elbing made themselves merry over
a farce in which Copernicus was the main object of ridicule. The
people of Nuremberg, a Protestant stronghold, caused a medal to be
struck with inscriptions ridiculing the philosopher and his theory.
Why the people at large took this view is easily understood when
we note the attitude of the guardians of learning, both Catholic
and Protestant, in that age.
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