NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 439 



the eighteenth century, when Buff on attempted to state simple 

 geological truths, the theological faculty of the Sorbonne forced 

 him to make and to publish a most ignominious recantation 

 'which ended with these words: "I abandon everything in my 

 book respecting the formation of the earth, and generally all 

 which may be contrary to the narrative of Moses/' * 



But to these discussions was added yet another, which, be- 

 ginning in the early days of the Church, was handed down the 

 ages until it has died out among the theologians of our own 

 time. 



In the first of the biblical accounts light is created and the 

 distinction between day and night thereby made on the first day, 

 while the sun and moon are not created until the fourth day. 

 Masses of profound theological and pseudo-scientific reasoning 

 have been developed to account for this masses so great that for 

 ages they have obscured the simple fact that the original text is 

 a precious revelation to us of one of the most ancient and uni- 

 versal of recorded beliefs the belief that light and darkness are 

 conditions or entities independent of the heavenly bodies, and 

 that the sun, moon, and stars exist not merely to maintain or in- 

 crease light but to " divide the day from the night, to be for 

 signs and for seasons, and for days and for years/' and " to rule 

 the day and the night." 



Of this belief we find survivals among the early fathers, and 

 especially in St. Ambrose; in his work on creation he tells us: 

 " We must remember that the light of day is one thing and the 

 light of the sun, moon, and stars another the sun by his rays 

 appearing to add luster to the daylight. For before sunrise the 

 day dawns but is not in full refulgence, for the sun adds still 

 further to its splendor." This view became one of the " treasures 

 of sacred knowledge committed to the Church," and was faith- 

 fully received by the middle ages. The mediaeval mysteries and 

 miracle plays give curious evidences of this : In a performance of 

 the creation, when God separates light from darkness, the stage 

 direction is, " Now a painted cloth is to be exhibited, one half 

 black and the other half white." This theory, leaving out all 

 quibblings and special pleadings, which in the light of modern 



* For Luther, see his Commentary on Genesis, 1545, introduction, and his comments on 

 chap, i, verse 12 ; the quotations from Luther's commentary are taken mainly from the 

 translation by Henry Cole, D. D., Edinburgh, 1858 ; for Melanchthon, see Loci Theologici, 

 in Melanchthon's opera, ed. Bretschneider, vol. xxi, pp. 269, 270; also pp. 637, 638; for 

 the citations from Calvin, see his Commentary on Genesis (Opera omnia, Amsterdam, 1671, 

 torn, i, cap. ii, vol. i, p. 8) ; also in the Institutes, Allen's translation, London, 1838, vol. i, 

 chap, xv, pp. 126, 127 ; for Peter Martyr, see his Commentary on Genesis, cited by Zock- 

 ler, vol. i, p. 690 ; for the articles in the Westminster Confession of Faith, see chap, iv ; 

 for Buffon's recantation, see Lyell, Principles of Geology, chap, iii, p. 57. 



