402 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



to an old-established belief, even though her leaders 

 know it to be unfounded, so long as any considerable 

 number of her members would be shocked at its aban- 

 donment. The question is whether there are any signs 

 as though the Church of Eome thought the time had 

 come when she might properly move a step forward, and 

 I rejoice to think, as I have said above, that at any 

 rate one such sign and a very important one has 

 come under my notice. 



In his Encyclical of August 4, 1879, the Pope desires 

 the Bishops and Clergy to restore the golden wisdom 

 of St. Thomas Aquinas, and to spread it far and wide. 

 "Vos omnes," he writes, "Venerabiles Fratres, quam 

 enixe hortarnur ut ad Catholicse fidei tutelam et decus, 

 ad societatis bonum, ad scientiarum omnium incre- 

 mentum auream Sancti Thomse sapientiam restituatis, et 

 quam latissime propagetis." He proceeds then with the 

 following remarkable passage : " We say the wisdom of 

 St. Thomas. For whatever has been worked out with 

 too much subtleness by the doctors of the schools, or 

 handed down inconsiderately, whatever is not consistent 

 with the teachings of a later age, or finally, is in any 

 way NOT PKOBABLE, We in no wise intend to propose 

 for acceptance in these days."* 



It would be almost possible to suppose that these 

 words had been written inadvertently, so the Pope 

 practically repeats them thus : " We willingly and 



* " Sapientiam Sancti Thomse dicimus : si quid enim est a doctoribus 

 scholasticis vel nimia subtilitate qusesitum, vel paruiu considerate 

 traditum, si quid cum exploratis posterioris sevi doctrinis minus 

 cohaerens, vel denique quoque modo non probabile, id uullo pacto in 

 ammo est setate nostra ad imitandum proponi." 



