Of the Belatlon of TtadUion to Falcetiology. 269 



Augustin says ;* " In obscure matters and things far removed 

 from our senses, if we read anything, even in the divine Scrip- 

 ture, which may produce diverse opinions without damaging 

 the faith which we cherish, let us not rush headlong by positive 

 assertion to either the one opinion or the other ; lest, when a 

 more thorough discussion has shewn the opinion which we had 

 adopted to be false, our faith may fall with it : and we should 

 be found contending, not for the doctrine of the sacred Scrip- 

 tures, but for our own ; endeavouring to make our doctrine to 

 be that of the Scriptures, instead of taking the doctrine of the 

 Scriptures to be ours." And in nearly the same spirit, at the 

 time of the Copernican controversy, it was thought proper to 

 append to the work of Copernicus a postil, to say that the 

 work was written to account for the phenomena, and that peo- 

 ple must not run on blindly and condemn either of the oppo- 

 site opinions. Even when the Inquisition, in 1 616, thought 

 itself compelled to pronounce a decision upon this subject, the 

 verdict was delivered in very moderate language : — that " the 

 doctrine of the earth's motion appeared to be contrary to 

 Scripture r'** and yet, moderate as this expression is, it has 

 been blamed by judicious members of the Roman church as 

 deciding a point such as religious authorities ought not to pre- 

 tend to decide ; and has brought upon that church no ordi- 

 nary weight of general condemnation. Kepler pointed out, 

 in his lively manner, the imprudence of employing the force 

 of religious authorities on such subjects : Acies dolahrw infer- 

 rum illisa, postea nee in lignum valet amplius. Capiat hoc cujus 

 interest. " If you will try to chop iron, the axe becomes unable 

 to cut even wood." 



11. In u'hat Spirit should the Change he urged^ — But while 

 we thus endeavour to shew in what manner the interpreters of 

 Scripture may most safely and most properly accept the dis- 

 coveries of science, we must not forget that there may be errors 

 committed on the other side also ; and that men of science, in 

 bringing forward views which may for a time disturb the minds 

 of lovers of Scriptm*e, should consider themselves as bound by 



* Lib. i. dc Qeneiij cap, 18. 

 VOL. XXIX, NO. LVIII. OCTOBER 1840. t 



