x.] ME. DARWIHT8 CRITICS. 231 



pretations by St. Thomas Aquinas, merely arose out of 

 St. Thomas s modesty, and his desire not to seem openly 

 to controvert St. Augustin &quot; voluisse Divus Thomas pro 

 sua modestia subtcrfugere vim argumenti potius quam 

 aperte Augustimim inconstantly arguere.&quot; 



Finally, Suarez decides that the writer of Genesis 

 meant that the term &quot;day&quot; should be taken in its 

 natural sense ; and he winds up the discussion with the 

 very just and natural remark that &quot; it is not probable 

 that God, in inspiring Moses to write a history of the 

 Creation which was to be believed by ordinary people, 

 would have made him use language, the true meaning 

 of which it is hard to discover, and still harder to 

 believe.&quot; l 



And in chapter xii. 3, Suarez further observes : 



&quot; Ratio enim retinendi vcram significationem diei natu rails est ilia 

 communis, quod verba Scripturoe non sunt ad metaphoras transferenda, 

 nisi vel necessitas cogit, vel ex ipsa scriptura constet, et maxime in 

 historica narratione et ad instructionem fidei pertinente : sed hsec ratio 

 non minus cogit ad intelligendum proprie dierum numerum, quam diei 

 qualitatem, QUIA NON MINUS UNO MODO QUAM ALIO DESTRUITUR SINCE- 

 KITAS, IMO ET VERITAS HISTORIC. Secundo hoc valde confirmant alia 

 Scripture loca, in quibus hi sex dies tanquam veri, et inter se distincti 

 commemorantur, ut Exod. 20 dicitur, Sex diebiis operabis et fades 

 omnia opera tua, septimo autem die Sabbatum Domini Dei tui est. Et 

 infra : Sex enim diebus fecit Dominm ccelum et terram et mare et omnia 

 quce in eis sunt, et idem repetitur in cap. 31. In quibus locis sermonis 

 proprietas colligi potest turn ex sequiparatione, nam cum dicitur : sex 

 diebus operabis, propriissime intelligitur : turn quia non est yerisimile, 

 potuisse populum intelligere verba ilia in alio sensu, et e contrario 

 incredibilo est, Deum in suis pr?eceptis tradendis illis verbis ad 

 populum fuisse loquutum, quibus deciperetur, falsum sensum conci- 

 piendo, si Deus non per sex veros dies opera sua fecisset.&quot; 



1 &quot;Propter lisec erjjo sententia ilia Augustini et propter nimiam obscuritatem 

 ct subtilitatera ejus difficilis creditu est : quia verisimile non est Deum inspi- 

 rasse Moysi, ut historiam de creatione mundi ad fidem totius populi ade6 

 neccssariam per nomiria dierum explicaret, quorum significatio vk inveniri et 

 difficillime ab aliquo credi posset.&quot; (Loc. cit. Lib. I. cap. xi. 42.) 



