shall demonstrate that no such harmony exists. For us it is enough to have shown that this hypothesis is consistent, on the one hand, with the story of Genesis; on the other, with the established conclusions of Geology; and, therefore, that in the present condition of science it may be adopted as a legitimate means of reconciling the truths that have been revealed by God with the truths that have been discovered by the light of rea son. CONCLUSION. We have, then, two distinct systems of interpretation, according to which the vast antiquity of the Earth asserted by Geology may be fairly brought into harmony with the history of creation recorded in Scripture. The one allows an interval of incalculable duration between the creation of the Heavens and the Earth and the work of the Six Days: the other supposes each one of these Six Days to have been itself an indefinite period of time. We cannot, indeed, prove that either of these two systems is true in point of fact; but we have attempted to show that neither is at variance with the language of the Sacred Text. On the other hand, when we look to the evidence of geological facts, we see no decisive reason for preferring one to the other. Either mode of interpretation seems in itself quite sufficient to meet all the present requirements of Geology; for, according to either interpretation, the Bible narrative would allow time without limit for the past history of our Globe; and time without limit is just what Geology demands. We may say, then, on this point what Saint Augustine said long ago, in speaking of the diverse interpretations which the text of Genesis admits: "Let each one choose according to the best of his power: only let him not rashly put forward as known that which is unknown; and let him not fail to remember that he is but a man searching as far as may be into the works of God".1 It must not be supposed that, according to our view, the Sacred Writer, in composing his account of the Creation, had before his mind those vast geological periods about which we have said so much in the course of these papers. Such an opinion is no part of our system. We see no good reason for believing that the author of Genesis was specially enlightened from Heaven on the subject of Stratified Rocks and Fossil Remains, of Upheaval and Denudation, of Volcanic Action and Central Heat. These are matters of Physical, not of Religious Science. And it seems to be the order of Providence to leave 1" Eligat quis quod potest: tantum ne aliquid temere atque incognitum pro cognito asserat; memineritque se hominem de divinis operibus quantum permittitur quaerere ".-De Genesi, Liber Imperfectus, cap. ix., n. 80 the discovery of such things to the industry and ingenuity of man: "Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo, et mundum tradidit disputationi eorum”.1 What we maintain, then, is simply this: that the Sacred Writer recorded faithfully, in language fitted to the ideas of his time, that portion of Revelation that was committed to him; and, in the accomplishment of this task, made such a choice of words and phrases, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to whom all truth is present, as to set forth plainly those facts that were unfolded to him, without introducing any error about those facts of which he was ignorant. The language is the language of men, but the voice that speaks therein is the voice of God. And thus it comes to pass that this Mosaic story, when fairly examined according to the ordinary laws of human speech, is found in every age to accommodate itself, with quite an unexpected simplicity, to those new and wonderful views of God's manifold powers which each hnman science in its turn brings to light. Before taking leave of the subject, we would venture to bring under the notice of our readers one very obvious reflection, which is sometimes lost sight of in the heat of controversy. The Mosaic history of the Creation absolutely stands alone. It has no rivals, no competitors. Every other attempt that has been made to explain the origin of the world and of the human race is refuted by its own intrinsic extravagance and absurdity. The wisest nations of antiquity failed to discover that great fundamental truth, which stands out so boldly on the first page of Genesis, that there is One God who hath made all things. The philosophers of Chaldæa were familiar with the course of the Heavens, and could predict the eclipses of the sun and moon. But the philosophers of Chaldæa could not rise from the contemplation of creatures to the knowledge of the Creator: the creatures themselves were the gods that Chaldæa worshipped. Egypt had greatness of mind to conceive the idea of the Pyramids, and skill to devise the plan of their construction, and strength of arm to lift up the huge stones on these stupendous piles. But Egypt raised up temples to the river that waters its plain, and offered sacrifice to the reptile that crawls upon the earth, and the beast that grazes in the field. In Greece the human mind soared to its highest flight, and ranged over the widest and most beautiful fields of thought. Peerless is she among the nations, the mistress of the arts, the fountain source of refined taste, the storehouse of intellectual power, the great nurse of human genius. Her schools of philosophy have influenced and guided to a marvellous extent the thoughts and speculations of all subsequent times. The song 1 Ecclesiastes, iii. 11, of her immortal bard has kindled the imagination of the poet in every generation, and enriched his mind with glowing images. Orators and statesmen still love to copy the lofty sentiments, the graceful diction, the flowing periods, of her golden eloquence. And students from every clime stand enraptured before the beauty and the majesty of her sculptured marble. But Greece, Imperial Greece, knew not the One God, the Giver of all good gifts, by whom she had been so highly endowed. She fashioned for herself gods and goddesses after her own fancy, and portioned out the universe between them. Jupiter hurled his thunderbolts from the clouds: Neptune ruled the sea: Pluto swayed the sceptre of the infernal regions: Minerva was the goddess of wisdom: Vulcan the god of fire: Apollo the god of music. Nay, the very infirmities and vices of human nature were personified under the names of divinities, and worshipped in the Pantheon of the gods. Rome, too, the conqueror of the world, had its philosophers, and its orators, its poets, and its sculptors, whose productions still charm and instruct mankind. Yet was Rome no exception to the common lot of the gentile world. For Rome, like Greece, had its long array of gods and goddesses, with their petty jealousies, their vindictive malice, their shameless passions. Alone, amidst all the Mythologies and Cosmogonies of ancient nations, the story of the Hebrew Legislator rises superior to the gross and silly speculations of mortal men. It alone proclaims to mankind what Philosophy and Science, when left to themselves, have never been able to teach, that, In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth; that the plants, and the animals, the ocean, and the elements, the sun, and moon, and stars, man himself, and all that delights the eye, and charms the ear, and fills the mind, are His creatures; and that besides Him there is no other God. Away, then, with the idea that this Sacred Narrative, stamped as it plainly is with the imprint of its Divine Author, should ever be found at variance with the truths of science, or rather, we should say, with those scanty fragments of truth, those crumbs of knowledge, falling from the table of our Heavenly Father, which it is given to man here below to gather up with laborious care, and which, however they may excite his longings, cannot satisfy his hunger. Here, for the present, we mean to bring to a close this series of papers on Geology and Revelation. At some future time, perhaps, if our opportunities permit, we may return to the subject, and invite the attention of our readers to the second branch of this great controversy, the Antiquity of Man. FRAGMENTS FROM THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH. 1. Prayer of St. Molaissi, Abbot of Devenish.-The following short poem of St. Molaissi is preserved in the ancient Liber Hymnorum, a MS. of the tenth century. There are three famous saints of the name Molaissi, in the Irish calendars, viz., St. Molaissi, son of Cairill, Abbot and Bishop of Leighlin, whose feast day is the 18th of April; St. Molaissi, son of Dealan, Abbot of Inishmurray, on 12th August; and St. Molaissi, son of Nadfraich, Abbot of Daimhinis, on the 12th of September. The Irish poem which we now publish has merely the title "Moelisa dixit", i.e., Molaissi composed this poem. But as it is attached to a Latin hymn which bears the title "Incipit imnus Lasriain, id est, Molasse Daminnse"-" Here begins the hymn of Laserian, i.e., Molaissi of Devenish", all doubt is removed as to its author. St. Molaissi of Devenish flourished in the sixth century: and his death is registered in the Chronicon Scotorum, in 564: "Molaise of Daimhinis quievit": in the Annals of Ulster and of the Four Masters the entry is made under the year 563. He founded a famous church and monastery in the island of Daimhinis, i.e., "Bovium insula", now Devenish in Loch Erne, not far from the present town of Enniskillen. A beautiful round tower and the ruins of the old monastery still adorn the island (Petrie's Round Towers, pp. 355, 395). In the Feliré of St. Angus the Culdee, the name of St. Molaissi is commemorated with other saints on the 12th of September as follows: Ceilebair feil nailbe Fr Fleid sorchai snamaig "Celebrate the festival of Ailbhe With Fedh, the bright, protecting, With the festival of Laisren the chosen, From Daiminis of the assemblies"." A gloss also is added to the original text, and from it we learn that St. Molaissi was only in his thirtieth year when he attained his crown, and that he himself described his monastery in the following verse: 1 Chron. Scotorum, trans. and edit. by W. M. Hennessy, Esq., for the Master of the Rolls. London, 1866, page 57. Leabhar Breac, fol. 48, a, Fofrith ferand fuaramar "A happy land we have found, A common resort for the Gaels, The beloved abode of God the Father". In the curious and very ancient Irish tale entitled "The Courtship of Bec Fola", there is a passage relative to our saint which illustrates the customs of our island in those early times. Four chieftains had challenged their rivals to meet them in deadly strife in the island of Daimhinis. On the appointed day they proceeded thither in their richest attire. Seven of the combatants were soon numbered among the dead, and the only surviving one was severely wounded. The bodies of the slain were interred by St. Molaissi, and he sent four of his religious to the monarch Diarmaid, to know what was his pleasure regarding their weapons and rich ornaments. It was on a Sunday that these messengers reached the monarch's abode, and it being unlawful for the clergy to travel about on the Lord's day, it is added that Diarmaid "drew his cloak over his head that he might not see the strangers". The religious, however, told him that it was "by order of their superior and not for their own pleasure" that they had undertaken this journey: and having detailed the circumstances of the combat, they thus continued: "The chieftains left behind them as much gold and silver as two men could carry, i.e., of the gold and silver that was on their garments and on their necks, and on their shields, and on their spears, and on their swords and on their hands, and on their tunics. We have come to know what portion of this booty you desire". The king replied: "That which God has sent to Molaissi, I shall not take from him: let him make his reliquaries of it": and the narrative adds: "This indeed was verified, for with that silver and gold, the reliquaries of Molaissi were ornamented, viz., his shrine, and his ministir," and his crozier". 4 a por 3 O'Donovan in his Ir. Gr., pag. 438, explains ministir as indicating table relic". It seems to me to be derived from the Latin word Ministerium, which often occurs in medieval writings, and which is explained by Du Cange as "mensulam juxta altare, in qua reponuntnr vasa ad sacrificium idonea". Our venerable Irish Abbot Dungal, in 814, when sending some silver to a brother abbot in France, thus explains the purposes for which he wished it to be employed: "Volo rogare, si vobis facile est ut jubeatis uni bono et perito de vestris fabricare illud et facere inde ministerium, calicem et patenam" (Jaffa's Monumenta Carolina. Berlin, 1867, pag. 435). It would thus be something like a portable safe for containing the sacred vessels, and perhaps the Gospels or Lectionary for the service of the altar. Copies of this tale are preserved in MS. H. 2. 16, and H. 3. 18 (T. C. D.), and in the O'Curry MSS. Catholic University. VOL. V. 15 |