It had been objected to the Copernican system, that were Venus a body which revolved around the sun in an orbit interior to that of the earth, she would undergo changes similar to those of the moon. As no such changes could be detected by the naked eye, no satisfactory answer could be given to this objection; but the telescope set all right, by showing, in fact, the phases of Venus. The same instrument, disclosed, also, in the system of Jupiter and his moons, a miniature exhibition of the solar system itself. It showed the actual existence of the motion of a number of bodies around one central orb, exactly similar to that which was predicated of the sun and planets. Every one, therefore, of these new and interesting discoveries, helped to confirm the truth of the system of Copernicus. But a fearful cloud was now rising over Galileo, which spread itself, and grew darker every hour. The Church of Rome had taken alarm at the new doctrines respecting the earth's motion, as contrary to the declarations of the Bible, and a formidable difficulty presented itself, namely, how to publish and defend these doctrines, without invoking the terrible punishments inflicted by the Inquisition on heretics. No work could be printed without license from the court of Rome; and any opinions supposed to be held and much more known to be taught by any one, which, by an ignorant and superstitious priesthood, could be interpreted as contrary to Scripture, would expose the offender to the severest punishments, even to imprisonment, scourging, and death. We, who live in an age so distinguished for freedom of thought and opinion, can form but a very inadequate conception of the bondage in which the minds of men were held by the chains of the Inquisition. It was necessary, therefore, for Galileo to proceed with the greatest caution in promulgating truths which his own discoveries had confirmed. He did not, like the Christian martyrs, proclaim the truth in the face of persecutions and tortures; but while he sought to give currency to the Copernican doctrines, he labored, at the same time, by cunning artifices, to blind the ecclesiastics to his real designs, and thus to escape the effects of their hostility.