x.] ME. DARWIN'S 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 " voluisse Divus Thomas pro 

 sua modestia subterfugere vim argument! potius quam 

 apcrte Augustinum inconstantiao arguere." 



Finally, Suarez decides that the writer of Genesis 

 meant that the term "day" should be taken in its 

 natural sense ; and he winds up the discussion with the 

 very just and natural remark that " 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." ' 



And in chapter xii. 3, Suarez further observes : 



" Ratio enim retinendi veram significationem diei naturalis est ilia 

 communis, quod verba Scripturse 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 hoec ratio 

 non minus cogit ad intelligendum propri& dierum numerum, quam diei 

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

 RITAS, IMO ET VERiTAS HISTORIC. Secundo hoc valde confirmant alia 

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

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

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

 infra : Sex enim diebus fecit Dominus ccdum et terram et mare et omnia 

 quae 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 

 incredibile est, Deum in suis praeceptis tradendis illis verbis ad 

 populum fuisse loquutum, quibus deciperetur, falsum sensum conci- 

 piendo, si Deus non per sex veros dies opera sua fecisset." 



1 "Propter hffic er^o sententia ilia Augustini et prppter nimiam obscuritatem 

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

 rasse Moysi, ut histpriam de creatipne mundi ad fidem totius pppuli aded 

 ueccssariam per nomina diernm explicaret, quorum significatio vk iuveniri et 

 difficillime ab aliquo credi posset." (Loc. cit. Lib. I. cap. xi. 42.) 



