126 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



liad received " warm thanks from mem- 

 bers of the clergy, most varied as to 

 rank and position," and particularly 

 from "a most esteemed superior of one 

 of the mediajval religious orders." He 

 therefore feels that it is time to take 

 another forward step, and say that, in 

 matters of historical and Biblical criti- 

 cism, the only appeal must hereafter be 

 to facts. It will not suffice to say that 

 such and such statements are contained 

 in Holy Writ, or have formed part of 

 the ordinary teaching of the Church; 

 the only pertinent questions will be: 

 Are they true? Are they supported 

 by such evidence as challenges the as- 

 sent of impartial inquirers? He then 

 proceeds to give a summary of the lead- 

 ing conclusions of such advanced Bib- 

 lical critics as Reuss, Colenso, Well- 

 hausen, and Kuenen, and states that, 

 while he is not prepared — does not, in- 

 deed, feel himself competent — to say 

 that the views of these eminent men 

 are correct in every particular, he is 

 convinced, after careful inquiry, that 

 they are correct in the main. He con- 

 siders that these men occupy, in rela- 

 tion to Biblical criticism, very much 

 the same position that Copernicus oc- 

 cupied in relation to the astronomy of 

 his age ; and that, just as the world ac- 

 cepted the views of Copernicus when 

 it became intelligent enough to under- 

 stand them, so the world will eventu- 

 ally adopt the views of the liberal school 

 of Biblical critics. How far these writ- 

 ers go may be judged (in one instance) 

 from Mr. Mivart's statement that "the 

 book of Chronicles is considered (by 

 them) as a thoroughly unhistorical 

 work, the history contained in it being 

 habitually falsified in accordance with 

 the point of view of the priestly code." 

 According to Mr. Mivart, it is quite 

 open to the members of the Catholic 

 Church to accept these views, and, in 

 all such questions, to yield simply to 

 the weight of historical evidence. " It 

 is," he says, "the men of historical sci- 

 ence now, and not theologians or con- 

 gregations, who arc putting us in the 



way of apprehending, with some ap- 

 proach to accuracy, what the truth is 

 as to the dates, authorities, and course 

 of development of the writings which 

 were inspired for our spiritual profit." 

 We presume Mr. Mivart will now 

 wait to see whether ecclesiastical cen- 

 sure will fall upon him for this last ut- 

 terance. He says he does not think it 

 will. He has reason to believe that 

 " broad views are not in disfavor at 

 the Vatican, though sudden or abrupt 

 action is neither to be expected nor de- 

 sired." It seems, then, to be a question 

 as to whether that section of the Chris- 

 tian Church which has hitherto been 

 accounted most conservative of tradi- 

 tional opinions, and most resolutely 

 hostile to all the new views of science, 

 is not in reality destined to prove itself 

 the most hospitable and friendly to such 

 new views. The situation is a singular 

 one, and merits the attentive consider- 

 ation of some excellent people who con- 

 sider their theology a great advance in 

 point of liberality and rationality upon 

 that of Rome, and who yet have an evil 

 eye for such scientific doctrines as that 

 of evolution, to say nothing of a free 

 critical handling of the sacred texts. 

 On the subject of Biblical criticism we 

 have no opinions to offer; but we must 

 say that we feel like agreeing with Mr. 

 Mivart that, in this field, as in every 

 other, the authorities to be deferred to 

 are those who have a competent knowl- 

 edge of facts, not those who are mere- 

 ly the official conservators of ancient 

 doerraas. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Appi-etons' Physical GEOGnAPny. By John 

 1). QuACKKNBOs and others. New York : 

 D. Appleton k. Co. Pp. 140. Price, 

 §1.G0. 



This work has been prepared on a new 

 plan. Physical geography, comprising parts 

 of a number of sciences, covers a wider field 

 than one man can be thoroughly familiar 

 with ; hence, in order to secure the advan- 

 tage of special knowledge over the whole 

 field, this work has been written bj' several 



